EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE AND DIAMETER REACTORS ON YIELD OF BIOCRUDE-OIL FROM THE PIROLYSIS PROCESS OF EMPTY FRUIT BUNCHES

• Main Author: Darajat Nurfajrin, Zakiah
• Format: Theses
• Language: Indonesia
• Subjects: Teknik kimia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/32951
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

The amount of oil palm empty fruit bunches (OPEFB) from the production process of Crude Palm Oil (CPO) in Indonesia can be utilized as a renewable energy source. One method used to convert OPEFB to renewable energy is pyrolysis. Pyrolysis is a process of thermal decomposition of OPEFB to become a liquid fuel source (biocrude-oil). This pyrolysis process can be run quickly (fast pyrolysis) and slow (slow pyrolysis) depending on the rate of heating and pyrolysis time. In this study pyrolysis using OPEFB as raw material and fuel was carried out slowly (slow pyrolysis) and the average rate of pyrolysis heating was 6 oC/min, using a fixed bed reactor with temperature variations of 400oC, 500oC, and 600oC. The reactor diameter was varied in 3 inch, 4 inch and 5 inch with pyrolysis time for 1 hour. The increase in pyrolysis temperature resulted in a decrease in the yield of biocrude-oil at 3 inch and 4 inch diameters, but increased yield in the 5 inch reactor diameter. At the same temperature, the larger the reactor requires more fuel in the form of OPEFB and the temperature distribution in the pyrolysis reactor is increasingly homogeneous which results in a decrease in the yield value of the biocrude-oil. The best yield was obtained in a 3 inch diameter reactor with a temperature of 400oC which was 35.93%. The obtained biocrude-oil has a viscosity of 26.28 cSt, a density of 1.08 gr/ml, an acid number of 39.42 mg KOH/gr and a heating value of 31.68 MJ/kg. Biocrude-oil is composed of complex organic compounds. The main constituent components of biocrude-oil are acids, phenols, esters, ketones, alkenes and several other aromatic species. The most dominant compounds in the biocrude-oil produced, namely acetic acid, phenol, 2-methyl phenol, n-Hexadecanoic acid and Methyl ester 9-octadecenoic acid respectively 14.6%, 13.86%, 10.8 %, 6.7% and 3.1%.