Comprehensive kinetic study of pyrolysis of sunan candlenut: The effect of using iron oxide, zeolite and ZSM-5 as bed materials

Abstract

The purpose of bed material in the pyrolysis process is to reduce the need for heat energy. In this study, three kinds of sands were observed as bed material, namely iron oxide, zeolite, and ZSM-5 in the slow fixed bed pyrolysis of sunan candlenut oilcake (SCO). To evaluate the activation energy, pyrolytic kinetics were carried out using the iso-conversional method with the KAS, OFW, and Friedman models. They involved calculating the data from the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) test at heating rates of 5, 10, 20 and 40 K/min. Furthermore, the results showed that SCO had a high volatile content of 82.80%, alongside a calorific value of 26.93 MJ/kg. The calculation results showed that the activation energy of SCO was 169.140 kJ/mol which decreased 1.45% in the KAS model, and 1.92% in the OFW model with the addition of ZSM-5 bed material. Therefore, the use of ZSM-5 bed material in the pyrolysis process reduces the activation energy.