Bioenerg. Res. (2013) 6:75–82 DOI 10.1007/s12155-012-9232-0
Fuel Characteristics of Solid Biofuel Derived from Oil Palm Biomass and Fast Growing Timber Species in Malaysia K. L. Chin & P. S. H’ng & E. W. Chai & B. T. Tey & M. J. Chin & M. T. Paridah & A. C. Luqman & M. Maminski
Published online: 3 July 2012 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012
Abstract The fuel characteristics of solid biofuels derived from biomass that is abundantly available in Malaysia are presented. The objectives of the study were to characterize fuel properties of oil palm biomass (empty fruit bunch (EFB) and oil palm trunk (OPT)) and wood from a range of fast growing timber species (Albizia falcataria, Acacia spp., Endospermum spp. and Macaranga spp.), inclusive and exclusive of bark. Among the fast-growing timber species, the higher heating values ranged from 4288 cal g-1 to 4383 cal g-1 for wood inclusive of bark, and 4134 cal g-1 to 4343 cal g-1 for wood exclusive of bark. The inclusive of bark portion in the biomass sample generally increased the heating value except for Macaranga spp. Empty fruit bunch and oil palm trunk had heating values of 4315 cal g-1 and 4104 cal g-1, respectively. Ash-forming elements and trace elements were much higher in the timber species samples inclusive of bark than samples exclusive of bark. On the K. L. Chin : M. T. Paridah : A. C. Luqman Institute of Tropical Forestry and Forest Product, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia P. S. H’ng (*) : E. W. Chai Faculty of Forestry, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia e-mail:
[email protected] B. T. Tey : M. J. Chin Chemical Engineering Discipline, School of Engineering, Monash University, 46150 Bandar Sunway, Selangor, Malaysia M. Maminski Faculty of Wood Technology, Warsaw University of Life Sciences – SGGW, 159 Nowoursynowska St. 02-776, Warsaw, Poland
other hand, oil palm biomass contained higher ash-forming elements and trace elements than the wood from the fast growing timber species. The European energy crops show higher HHV, Cl and Si content but lower K, Mg, Na and P compared to the local biomass used in this study. The data obtained from this study can serve as a foundation for the selection of suitable biomass to be used as solid fuel, or as a reference on the fabrication of conversion systems for the selection of biomass solid fuel. Keywords Biomass solid fuel . Oil palm biomass . Fast growing timber species
Introduction Malaysia has been one of the largest producers and exporters of palm oil for the last 40 years. In 2010, Malaysia had approximately 4.85 million hectares of land under oil palm plantation [1]. The main products generated from oil palm are palm oils, palm kernel oil and palm kernel cake. The byproducts generated from palm oil milling are empty fruit bunch (EFB) and oil palm trunk (OPT), which have great potential to be used as biomass fuel for energy production. During replantation, 74 tonnes of dry OPT per hectare are generated. On the other hand, approximately 23 % of the EFB byproduct comes from the processing of fresh fruit bunch (FFB) in the palm oil mill. The consistency of the supply of biomass byproduct from the palm oil industry has made it an ideal source of raw materials for biomass fuel production, compared to wood wastes from furniture mills and sawmills. In palm oil mills, EFB can be easily separated out from a processing batch, whereas batches of wood wastes from other mills consist of various types of wood and extraneous material (often including significant amounts of bark, leaves, needles, dirt, rocks and traces of
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chemicals from adhesives and preservatives), which can cause substantial production inefficiencies and substandard lignocellulosic biomass with different higher heating values and chemical compounds. As a result, the use of wood industry waste as raw material for the production of biomass fuel is limited since strict standards for fuel characteristics exist. Undoubtedly, oil palm biomass is a better choice compared to wood industry waste as a source for biomass fuel production. However, oil palm biomass is a byproduct whose availability largely depends on the primary production of palm oil industry. Hence, there is a need to look for other sustainable feedstock resources to support biomass fuel production. One of the most promising alternative biomass feedstock sources is fast growing energy crops. Ideally, these would allow us to grow our fuel, thus reducing the dependence on fossil fuel and our vulnerability to disruption in energy supply. These crops are fast growing trees harvested within five to eight years after planting; they generate logs with smaller diameters (
