Alternative solid biofuel production from palm oil residue wastes employing dry

torrefaction
Mochamad Syamsiro, Batman Budiarto Sitompul, Untoro Budi Surono, Bayu Prabowo, and Muhammad Kunta
Biddinika

Citation: AIP Conference Proceedings 1983, 020028 (2018); doi: 10.1063/1.5046224

View online: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5046224
View Table of Contents: http://aip.scitation.org/toc/apc/1983/1
Published by the American Institute of Physics
Alternative Solid Biofuel Production From Palm Oil Residue
Wastes Employing Dry Torrefaction
Mochamad Syamsiro1,a), Batman Budiarto Sitompul1), Untoro Budi Surono1,2),
Bayu Prabowo3) and Muhammad Kunta Biddinika4)
1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Janabadra University, Jalan T.R. Mataram 55-57, Yogyakarta 55231,
Indonesia
2
Center for Waste Management and Bioenergy, Janabadra University, Jalan T.R. Mataram 55-57, Yogyakarta
55231, Indonesia
3
Department of Renewable Energy Engineering, Universitas Prasetiya Mulya, Tangerang, Banten 15339, Indonesia
4
School of Environment and Society, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 4259, Nagatsuta, Midori-ku, Yokohama 226-
8503, Japan
a)
Corresponding author: syamsiro@janabadra.ac.id

Abstract. Indonesia is the biggest producer country of crude palm oil in the world so that the utilization of palm oil
industry waste as a solid fuel via dry torrefaction is a very promising method to produce not only green energy sources
but also resolve the waste problems. This study aims to investigate the effect of temperature and holding time on the
torrefaction of palm oil residue waste. The feedstocks used in these experiments were palm kernel and palm kernel shell.
The feedstocks collected contained high moisture fraction which was then sun-dried for three days in order to reduce the
water content. The results show that the temperature of 250°C produced a highest solid product which is more than 80%
yield for palm kernel shell. The increase of torrefaction temperature and holding time resulted in decreasing the solid
yield for both feedstocks. The palm kernel torrefaction produced less solid fraction than those of palm kernel shell at
250°C. In contrast condition at the higher temperature, palm kernel torrefaction produced less solid fraction than palm
kernel shell. The heating value of solid product increased as the increase of temperature and holding time, while the
energy yield decreased.

INTRODUCTION
Nowadays biomass has become one of alternative energy used intensively in the world. This was due to the
abundant availability of biomass especially from both agricultural and forest residue. As a tropical country,
Indonesia has various biomass sources such as rice husk, palm oil residue waste, sugarcane bagasse, cocoa pod husk
[1,2], jatropha cake seed [3,4], wood waste, etc. These sources have been used as fuels for various applications such
as for household needs, drying of agricultural products, wood, ceramic, brick, and tile [2]. However, biomass also
has some drawbacks concerned with high moisture content, low calorific value, heterogenous materials, etc. These
disadvantages would be a problem in application to advance energy conversions such as gasification and pyrolysis.
High moisture content and low calorific value reduced the overall efficiency of the system.
Biomass actually is a difficult energy source in terms of transport, logistics and thermal conversion [5]. The
bulky nature of biomass makes it more difficult to be transported. It also needs more space for storage since the low
density of biomass. Briquetting or pelletization is one of the solutions to increase the density of biomass and offers
several advantages, but it is costly and energy consuming, especially for biomass streams other than clean, dry
sawdust. Moreover, briquettes or pellets still have some limitations including durability and hygroscopic nature.
As a developing country, Indonesia needs more sustainable energy supply to ensure the high and stable
economic growth. Hence, there is an urgent need for better biofuels. Untreated biomass has a relatively low energy
density, high moisture content and is difficult to crush into small particles. After drying, it can regain moisture and

Disruptive Innovation in Mechanical Engineering for Industry Competitiveness

AIP Conf. Proc. 1983, 020028-1–020028-9; https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5046224
Published by AIP Publishing. 978-0-7354-1699-4/$30.00

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may rot during storage. Furthermore, enhancement of the energy density is advisable because a large amount of
biomass is required to replace an equivalent amount of coal in applications such as combustion and gasification. One
of the technologies that can be applied to overcome these problems is a thermal processing step known as
torrefaction or dry torrefaction [6]. In this process, biomass is heated up in the temperature range of 225–300°C
under an inert atmosphere. The solid product, torrefied biomass, has attractive fuel properties, such as an improved
heating value, low moisture content, and ease of size reduction [7].
Torrefaction of various biomass materials has been investigated such as palm kernel shell [8,9], microalga
residue [10], and bamboo [11,12]. One of the biomass source in Indonesia which has a huge potential is palm oil
residue wastes. Indonesia is the biggest producer country of crude palm oil in the world. In 2015, the land area of
palm oil plantation reached more than 11 million hectares producing more than 31 million tonnes of crude palm oil
[13].
Several types of biomass produced by the palm oil industry include palm kernel shells, empty fruit bunches,
mesocarp fiber, fronds, and trunks. Therefore, the utilization of palm oil industry waste as a solid fuel via dry
torrefaction is a very promising method to produce not only green energy sources but also resolve the waste
problems. The present study aims to investigate the torrefaction of palm kernel and palm kernel shell in a fixed bed
reactor for producing high calorific solid fuels.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Materials
The feedstocks used in these experiments were palm kernel and palm kernel shell. The materials were collected
from palm oil industry in South Sumatera province, Indonesia. The feedstocks collected contained high moisture
fraction which was then sun-dried for three days in order to reduce the water content. The materials were
characterized by evaluating the calorific value. The physical appearances of the feedstocks can be seen in Figure-1.

FIGURE 1. The materials used in the experiments: (a) palm kernel shell; (b) palm kernel.

Experimental Procedure For Torrefaction

The torrefaction experiments were carried out in an electrically heated fixed bed reactor. The reactor is made of
stainless steel which has the diameter and height of 10 cm and 45 cm respectively. A temperature probe (K-type
thermocouple) was placed on the outer surface of the reactor to measure the torrefaction temperature controlled by
the power controller. A double-tube condenser was installed at the outlet of the reactor to separate gas and liquid
products. A schematic diagram of the experimental apparatus is shown in Figure-2.

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 1

8
2

7
3

6
4

1-pyrolysis reactor; 2-water outlet; 3-condenser; 4-water inlet; 5-gas outlet; 6-oil tank; 7-electrical heater; 8-thermocouple
wire
FIGURE 2. A schematic diagram of torrefaction apparatus.

In each experiment, 700 g of sample was placed in the reactor. In these experiments, the reactor was first heated
up to a certain temperature. Two main parameters of torrefaction which are temperature and holding time were taken
into account to evaluate their effects on torrefaction performance. Three different torrefaction temperature viz.
250°C, 300°C and 350°C, and holding time viz. 30, 45 and 60 minutes were chosen for the experiments. After the
experiments were finished, the solid residue in the reactor was cooled and collected as a torrefaction product for
calorific value analysis by using a bomb calorimeter. The liquid product was condensed and collected in the oil tank.
The gaseous product was calculated by the difference between the total feedstock weight, and liquid and solid
weights.
The energy yield of torrefied products was calculated by using the following formula :

ࡴࢂࢀࡼ࢞࢓ࢇ࢙࢙࢟࢏ࢋ࢒ࢊሺΨሻ
ࡱ࢔ࢋ࢘ࢍ࢟࢟࢏ࢋ࢒ࢊሺΨሻ ൌ
ࡴࢂࡾ࡮
(1)
where: HVTP = heating value of the torrefied product
HVRB = heating value of raw biomass

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Torrefaction Of Palm Kernel Shell

Torrefaction of palm kernel shell has been conducted to evaluate the effect of temperature and holding time on
solid product characteristics such as calorific value. The effect of torrefaction temperature on mass yield is
illustrated in Figure-3. The temperature of 250°C produced a highest solid product which is more than 80% yield.
The increase of torrefaction temperature resulted in decreasing the solid yield. The reason is that at a higher
temperature, the more volatile matter will be released become gas.

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 FIGURE 3. Effect of torrefaction temperature on mass yield of the palm kernel shell at 60 minutes holding time.

FIGURE 4. Effect of holding time on the mass yield of the palm kernel shell at the temperature of 300°C.

The effect of holding time on mass yield at the temperature of 300°C can be seen in Figure-4. It can be seen that
the increase of holding time resulted in decreasing the solid yield. Torrefaction occurs bellow the spontaneous
decomposition temperature so that the volatile release is very slow and takes longer time. Thus, the longer holding
time allows the higher volatile and lower solid yields [8].
The physical appearance of torrefied palm kernel shell is shown in Figure-4. From the figure, we can see that at
250°C, the colour was still brown which mean the materials were not totally pyrolyzed yet. At higher temperature,
the colour becomes dark which mean more pyrolysis process has been occurred. The solid yield at 350°C was less
than 40% which is like the charcoal product.

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 250°°C 300°°C 350°°C

FIGURE 5. The physical appearance of palm kernel shell torrefaction products : (a) 250°C; (b) 300°C; (c) 350°C

Torrefaction Of Palm Kernel

Similar to palm kernel shell, torrefaction of palm kernel has also been carried out to evaluate the effect of
temperature and holding time on solid product characteristics. The effect of torrefaction temperature on mass yield is
shown in Figure-5. A similar trend with palm kernel shell, increasing the torrefaction temperature produced a less
solid product and more liquid and gaseous products.
The palm kernel torrefaction produced less solid fraction than those of palm kernel shell at 250°C. In contrast
condition at a higher temperature, palm kernel torrefaction produced less solid fraction than palm kernel shell. The
reason is that the particle size of palm kernel was bigger than palm kernel shell which inhibits the diffusion process
during pyrolysis.

FIGURE 6. Effect of torrefaction temperature on mass yield of the palm kernel at 60 minutes holding time.

Figure-7 shows the effect of holding time on mass yield at the temperature of 300°C. It can also be seen that the
increase of holding time resulted in decreasing the solid yield. Holding time of 30 minutes produced a lower solid
product than that of palm kernel shell. However, when the holding time was increased to 60 minutes, palm kernel
produced more solid product compared with palm kernel shell. This is due to the different thermal resistance of each
biomass resulted in different heat transfer rate from the outer surface to inside of biomass.

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 FIGURE 7. Effect of holding time on the mass yield of the palm kernel at the temperature of 300°C.

The physical appearance of torrefied palm kernel can be seen in Figure-8. It can be observed that in all condition,
the colour seems dark. It was like completely pirolyzed. However, the dark colour at lower temperature was
appeared only on the outer surface of palm kernel. It means that the inner part of biomass was still not pirolyzed yet.
From Figure-4 and Figure-7, it can be compared that palm kernel torrefaction needs longer time than palm kernel
shell which is illustrated by the slower reduction of solid product as a function of holding time.

250°°C 300°°C 350°°C

FIGURE 8. The physical appearance of palm kernel torrefaction products : (a) 250°C; (b) 300°C; (c) 350°C.

Heating Value Of Torrefaction Products

Calorific or heating value of biomass is an important parameter illustrating the quality of solid fuels. Figure-9
shows the heating value of torrefied palm kernel and palm kernel shell as the effect of temperature at 60 minutes
holding time. It can be seen that heating value of solid product increased as the increase of temperature for both
biomass. Palm kernel originally has higher heating value than palm kernel shell since the oil presence in the palm
kernel. At lower temperature, the heating value of palm kernel slightly increased while at higher temperature the
heating value considerably increased.

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 FIGURE 9. Effect of torrefaction temperature on the heating value of the palm kernel and palm kernel shell at 60 minutes
holding time.

FIGURE 10. Effect of holding time on the heating value of the palm kernel and palm kernel shell at the temperature of
300°C.

The effect of holding time on the heating value of the palm kernel and palm kernel shell at the temperature of
300°C can be observed in Figure-10. The increase of holding time was significantly upgraded the heating value of
palm kernel shell. However, as can be seen in Figure-4, the mass loss of solid product was also high which means
the total energy yield that can be obtained decreased. Thus, the energy yield decreased with the increase of
temperature and holding time.

Energy Yield Of Torrefaction Products

The energy yield of torrefied products is shown in Figure-11. Energy yield is defined by the energy content ratio
between torrefied biomass and its raw biomass [14]. It was calculated by using equation 1 for each process
condition. The linear correlation as shown in Figure-11 was based on many previous torrefaction data calculated and
formulated by Chen et al. [14].
The results show that the solid yield versus energy yield of palm kernel and palm kernel shell is close to the
linear correlation which has a formula [14] :

Energy yield (%) = 0.975 x solid yield (%) + 11.68 (2)

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 For both biomass, a decrease in solid yield linearly decreases the energy yield of biomass. Figure-11 also shows
that palm kernel shell produced higher energy yield than that of palm kernel. The difference composition of both
biomass including proximate and elemental analysis resulted in different energy yield.

FIGURE 11. The plot of solid yield versus energy yield of palm kernel and palm kernel shell.

CONCLUSIONS
Alternative solid biofuel from palm kernel and palm kernel shell have been produced by using torrefaction
process. The increase of torrefaction temperature and holding time resulted in decreasing solid product for both
feedstocks. Palm kernel produced less solid fraction at low temperature and a more solid fraction at the higher
temperature compared with palm kernel shell. The heating value of solid product increased as the increase of
temperature and holding time. Palm kernel shell produced higher energy yield than that of palm kernel.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors acknowledge Janabadra University for providing financial support under LP3M Grant 2017. The
authors would also like to thank PTPN VII Suli, Palembang for providing the samples.

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