Abstract
Empty fruit bunch (EFB) is abundantly available for renewable energy resource, especially in Southeast Asian countries. However, EFB has inherent problems such as high moisture content, low heating value, and high alkali metal content. In order to improve the quality of feedstock as a fuel, in this research, the effects of hydrothermal treatment (HT) on the hydrothermally treated EFB (HT-EFB) characteristics were investigated. Also, the pyrolysis characteristics of EFB and HT-EFB were examined. The experiments of hydrothermal treatment were carried out in a 500-mL hydrothermal reactor at the temperature range of 120 to 220 °C with 60 to 120 min holding time. Afterward, the pyrolysis experiments of EFB and hydrothermally treated EFB (HT-EFB) were conducted in a lab-scale isothermal tube furnace at 400 °C for 1 h. The gas product was periodically collected to create gas evolution profiles. The result showed that hydrothermal treatment improved the properties of EFB, such as higher fixed carbon, lower ash content, and higher energy density. Hydrothermal treatment caused an increase in the heating value of HT-EFB to 19.47 MJ/kg, while the ratio of volatile matter/(volatile matter + fixed carbon) decreased from 0.82 to 0.68. Employing hydrothermal treatment in EFB did not only reduce the ash content of the biomass but also reduced the contents of potassium and sodium. In addition, the gas product from HT-EFB pyrolysis resulted in higher content of CO, CH4, and H2. The identified liquid product of pyrolysis consisted of alkane groups, phenolic groups, aromatic groups, ketones, acids, alcohols, and ester, which may be used as liquid fuel or for chemical production after further treatment. The observation indicated that hydrothermal treatment is an appropriate method to improve the fuel characteristic of EFB.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Faisal M, Mahidin (2013) Biomass residue from palm oil mills in Aceh Province: a potential usage for sustainable energy. Int J Adv Sci Eng Inf Technol 3(3):32–38
Paltseva J, Searle S, Malins C (2016) Potential for advanced biofuel production from palm residues in Indonesia. S, The International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), Washington DC, USA
Hantoko D, Yan M, Prabowo B, Susanto H (2018) Preparation of empty fruit bunch as a feedstock for gasification process by employing hydrothermal treatment. Energy Procedia 152:1003–1008
Olisa YP, Kotingo KW (2014) Utilization of palm empty fruit fruit bunch (PEFB) as solid fuel for steam boiler. Eu J Eng Technol 2(2):1–7
Salomon M, Gómez MF, Erlich C, Martin A (2013) Pelletization: an alternative for polygeneration in the palm oil industry. Biomass Conv Bioref 3(3):213–229
Novianti S, Biddinika MK, Prawisudha P, Yoshikawa K (2014) Upgrading of palm oil empty fruit bunch employing hydrothermal treatment in lab-scale and pilot scale. Procedia Environ Sci 20:46–54
Tekin K, Karagöz S, Bektaş S (2014) A review of hydrothermal biomass processing. Renew Sust Energ Rev 40:673–687
Lynam JG, Reza MT, Yan W, Vásquez VR, Coronella CJ (2015) Hydrothermal carbonization of various lignocellulosic biomass. Biomass Conv Bioref 5(2):173–181
Nakason K, Panyapinyopol B, Kanokkantapong V, Viriya-empikul N, Kraithong W, Pavasant P (2018) Characteristics of hydrochar and hydrothermal liquid products from hydrothermal carbonization of corncob. Biomass Conv Bioref 8(1):199–210
Reza MT, Uddin MH, Lynam JG, Hoekman SK, Coronella CJ (2014) Hydrothermal carbonization of loblolly pine: reaction chemistry and water balance. Biomass Conv Bioref 4(4):311–321
Román S, Nabais JMV, Laginhas C, Ledesma B, González JF (2012) Hydrothermal carbonization as an effective way of densifying the energy content of biomass. Fuel Process Technol 103:78–83
Gao Y, H-p C, Wang J, Shi T, Yang H-P, Wang X-H (2011) Characterization of products from hydrothermal liquefaction and carbonation of biomass model compounds and real biomass. J Fuel Chem Technol 39(12):893–900
Hoekman SK, Broch A, Robbins C (2011) Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) of lignocellulosic biomass. Energy Fuel 25(4):1802–1810
Moon J, Mun T-Y, Yang W, Lee U, Hwang J, Jang E, Choi C (2015) Effects of hydrothermal treatment of sewage sludge on pyrolysis and steam gasification. Energy Convers Manag 103:401–407
Novianti S, Nurdiawati A, Zaini IN, Prawisudha P, Sumida H, Yoshikawa K (2015) Low-potassium fuel production from empty fruit bunches by hydrothermal treatment processing and water leaching. Energy Procedia 75:584–589
Khan AA, de Jong W, Jansens PJ, Spliethoff H (2009) Biomass combustion in fluidized bed boilers: potential problems and remedies. Fuel Process Technol 90(1):21–50
Yan M, Prabowo B, He L, Fang Z, Xu Z, Hu Y (2016) Effect of inorganic coagulant addition under hydrothermal treatment on the dewatering performance of excess sludge with various dewatering conditions. J Mater Cycles Waste Manage 19(3):1279–1287
Sheng C, Azevedo JLT (2005) Estimating the higher heating value of biomass fuels from basic analysis data. Biomass Bioenergy 28(5):499–507
Soponpongpipat N, Sittikul D, Sae-Ueng U (2015) Higher heating value prediction of torrefaction char produced from non-woody biomass. Front Energy 9(4):461–471
Liu Z, Quek A, Kent Hoekman S, Balasubramanian R (2013) Production of solid biochar fuel from waste biomass by hydrothermal carbonization. Fuel 103:943–949
Xiao LP, Shi ZJ, Xu F, Sun RC (2012) Hydrothermal carbonization of lignocellulosic biomass. Bioresour Technol 118:619–623
Kongpanya J, Hussaro K, Teekasap S (2014) Influence of reaction temperature and reaction time on product from hydrothermal treatment of biomass residue. Am J Environ Sci 10(4):324–335
Anis S, Zainal ZA (2011) Tar reduction in biomass producer gas via mechanical, catalytic and thermal methods: a review. Renew Sust Energ Rev 15(5):2355–2377
Han J, Kim H (2008) The reduction and control technology of tar during biomass gasification/pyrolysis: an overview. Renew Sust Energ Rev 12(2):397–416
Darmawan A, Budianto D, Aziz M, Tokimatsu K (2017) Hydrothermally-treated empty fruit bunch cofiring in coal power plants: a techno-economic assessment. Energy Procedia 105:297–302
Deng L, Ye J, Jin X, Che D (2018) Transformation and release of potassium during fixed-bed pyrolysis of biomass. J Energy Inst 91:630–637
Funke A, Ziegler F (2010) Hydrothermal carbonization of biomass: a summary and discussion of chemical mechanisms for process engineering. Biofuels Bioprod Biorefin 4(2):160–177
Yan W, Hastings JT, Acharjee TC, Coronella CJ, Vásquez VR (2010) Mass and energy balances of wet torrefaction of lignocellulosic biomass. Energy Fuel 24(9):4738–4742
Nurdiawati A, Novianti S, Zaini IN, Nakhshinieva B, Sumida H, Takahashi F, Yoshikawa K (2015) Evaluation of hydrothermal treatment of empty fruit bunch for solid fuel and liquid organic fertilizer co-production. Energy Procedia 79:226–232
Blazsó M, Jakab E, Vargha A, Székely T, Zoebel H, Klare H, Keil G (1986) The effect of hydrothermal treatment on a Merseburg lignite. Fuel 65(3):337–341
Titirici M-M, Thomas A, Antonietti M (2007) Back in the black: hydrothermal carbonization of plant material as an efficient chemical process to treat the CO2 problem? New J Chem 31(6):787–789
Yang H, Yan R, Chen H, Lee DH, Zheng C (2007) Characteristics of hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin pyrolysis. Fuel 86(12–13):1781–1788
Ibbett R, Gaddipati S, Davies S, Hill S, Tucker G (2011) The mechanisms of hydrothermal deconstruction of lignocellulose: new insights from thermal–analytical and complementary studies. Bioresour Technol 102(19):9272–9278
Hendriks ATWM, Zeeman G (2009) Pretreatments to enhance the digestibility of lignocellulosic biomass. Bioresour Technol 100(1):10–18
Lavoie J-M, Baré W, Bilodeau M (2011) Depolymerization of steam-treated lignin for the production of green chemicals. Bioresour Technol 102(7):4917–4920
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge Dr. Ekkachai Kanchanatip for his assistance in English writing.
Funding
This study was financially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (Grant No. LY17E060005), State International Cooperation Project (Grant No. 2017YFE0107600), and World Class University Program—Institut Teknologi Bandung 2016. The authors also acknowledged to Indonesian Palm Oil Estate Fund for financial support through Research Project on Production of Clean Bio-synthesis Gas and DME Synthesis.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yan, M., Hantoko, D., Susanto, H. et al. Hydrothermal treatment of empty fruit bunch and its pyrolysis characteristics. Biomass Conv. Bioref. 9, 709–717 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-019-00382-9
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-019-00382-9