Oil Palm Biomass and Its Kinetic Transformation Properties

Abstract

Malaysia generates millions of tons of oil palm biomass from oil palm mills which need a proper waste utilization application. One of the most commonly method used to utilize the wastes is by using pyrolysis method. This chapter discusses some current applications of biomass pyrolysis. Moreover, kinetic transformation properties of biomass, biomass pyrolysis reaction kinetics, and parameter estimation have also been discussed as the purpose of kinetic modeling is to find a good correlation between reaction rate (k), conversion rate (α), and reaction temperature (T). In order to interpret the biomass pyrolysis behavior, activation energy (E) and pre-factor (A) were needed and calculated based on Arrhenius equation. Last but not least, the recently available kinetic models such as lumped and distributed models are also listed.