Pyrolysis of agricultural waste: effect of catalyst application

Fuel gas can be produced from the pyrolysis process of biomass. Fuel gas is a clean and renewable energy thus becoming a very suitable energy that can replace the fossil fuels for example hydrogen and methane. The abundant quantity of agricultural waste in Malaysia especial palm oil waste made this process even more promising. This research is aimed to produce high yield of fuel gas with a coke resistance catalyst. Palm oil wastes were used as samples in this research which are empty fruit bunch (EFB) and palm oil fibre (POF). The catalysts used were nickel alumina, doped with Cerium, Ni/Ce/Al2O3 and Aluminium Oxide doped with Calcium, Ca/Al2O3. The reactor used was tubular reactor type; quartz reactor which was then placed in tubular furnace for heating purposes. The temperature for the pyrolysis to take place efficiently is at 700 oC. At higher temperature, the gas produced is higher. Pre-test of pyrolysis by using Thermo gravimetric Analysis (TGA) was done first prior to experimental lab scale was carried out. The production of gas can be determined from the pre-test. From the analysis, POF has lower solid residue content with only 18.33 wt% than 22.78 wt% of EFB. It seems that POF has better performances than EFB due the low content of char. Thus, the experimental lab scale was carried out by using POF samples. The production of fuel gas from this process was recorded and analysed by using portable gas analyzer and thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA). The result was analysed based on the fuel gas produced. From the analysis, Ca/Al2O3 produces high CO2 and has higher percent of solid content compared to Ni/Ce/Al2O3. In the experiment, Ni/Ce/Al2O3 produces more fuel gas compared to Ca/Al2O3. It can be deduced that the application of Ni/Ce/Al2O3 produces more gas than non-catalytic proces