Open AccessExperiment analysis on the characteristic of empty fruit bunch, palm kernel shell, coconut shell, and rice husk for biomass boiler fuel
Author(s) -
Sivabalan Kaniapan,
Hassan Suhaimi,
Y. Hamdan,
Jagadeesh Pasupuleti
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of mechanical engineering and sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2231-8380
pISSN - 2289-4659
DOI - 10.15282/jmes.15.3.2021.08.0652
Subject(s) - husk , palm kernel , renewable energy , raw material , biomass (ecology) , environmental science , pulp and paper industry , heat of combustion , waste management , biofuel , boiler (water heating) , banana peel , torrefaction , proximate , agronomy , engineering , pyrolysis , chemistry , agroforestry , combustion , botany , food science , biology , organic chemistry , palm oil , electrical engineering
It has been a necessary option for most developing countries moving towards renewable energy options as part of the Paris Agreement, which minimizes conventional energy sources’ reliance. In Malaysia, biomass is a profitable renewable option compared to solar and hydro sources for energy production due to the abundance of agricultural biomass availability for immediate use. However, most of the biomass power plants in Malaysia depend on empty fruit bunch as fuel, causing problems when there is a shortage of fuel supply and other circumstances. Variations in the fuels’ properties provide a new challenge to the power plant output; however, mixing biomass fuels can overcome the issue. Hence, this article aims to study the empty fruit bunch (EFB) with other abundant biomass fuels like “palm kernel shell (PKS),” “rice husk (RH),” and “coconut shell (CS)” for biomass boiler fuel. Therefore, the biomass’s composition and characteristics need to be known, which was done through the proximate analysis (PA), ultimate analysis (UA), and high heating value (HHV). As a result of PA, UA, and HHV, RH is the least favourable fuel due to lowest ((moisture (4.92%), volatile matter (63.20%), carbon (42.50%), hydrogen (5.42%), nitrogen (0.43%) and sulphur (0.01%)) and highest ash content (18.19%), whereas CS exhibits the most favourable option with highest (carbon (50.25%) and oxygen (42.57%)) and second highest in HHV (20.53%) compared with PKS. Thus, the experiments have provided the least and highest favourable feedstock ratios option for biomass boiler fuel application.