Rochim Bakti Cahyono

Study of pyrolysis of ulin wood residues

As abundant resources, ulin wood residues could be converted into bioenergy through pyrolysis process. To detail analysis, the pyrolyzer reactor was connected to micro GC for online gas analysis. By comparing to other biomass e.g. pinewood and low-grade coal, the ulin wood residues exhibited similar result when the pyrolysis process started around 400 °C. The char product decreased as elevated temperature due to gasification process. Based on the gas analysis, this pyrolysis produced a gas product which predominant composed of CO. The SEM analysis also showed that the pyrolysis treatment resulted in fine char with nanopores particles. Hence, the reactivity of the solid product would be increased significantly. Therefore, the ulin wood residues could be other alternatives as a renewable energy source through pyrolysis process.

Effect of temperature and biomass-water ratio to yield and product characteristics of hydrothermal treatment of biomass

Hydrothemal treatment is a thermochemical process that converts biomass into a coal-like materials called hydrochar by applying elevated temperature to biomass in a suspension with water under saturated pressure for a certain time. With this conversion process, easy to handle fuel with well-defined properties can be created from biomass residues, even with high moisture content. In this research, the effects of temperature (200-330°C) and biomass to water ratio (5%-20%) at initial pressure of 1.0 MPa to hydrothermal treatment of biomass (in the form of sawdust) were examined. All samples were then characterized in terms of yield, proximate analysis, calorific value,and changes in functional groups by FTIR. Approximately 52-69% of the original material was recovered as hydrochar. The gross calorific value ranged from 5472-7032 cal/g compared 5180 cal/g in the raw material. Fixed carbon ranged from 26.035-wt% compared with 26.269 wt% in the raw material.

Enhancement of oil palm empty fruit bunch char by impregnation of pyrolytic carbon from tar vapor decomposition

This paper describes a technology for condensable vapor from pyrolysis (often referred to as “tar”) of oil palm empty fruit bunch, EFB, to be collected—by EFB char substrate—in the form of pyrolytic carbon to produce a value-added EFB char and to make EFB able to be utilized as a supplementary solid fuel. Chemical vapor infiltration method was employed at atmospheric pressure for tar vapor to undergo secondary decomposition to produce pyrolytic carbon to be deposited within porous char. Porous char in a packed bed was used as the substrate, and impregnated with pyrolytic carbon using tar vapor as a reactant. Char substrate was prepared by slowly heating coarse EFB particles in the packed bed to 400 °C in nitrogen atmosphere. Tar vapor was obtained from fast pyrolysis of fine EFB particles at 400–700 °C, and the weight ratio of fine EFB particles—the tar source—to char substrate was increased from 0.5 to 4.0. The amount of carbon contents of the resultant products by this process was compared to those with...