Abstract:
In this work, the carbonization of oil palm shell (OPS) in fixed-bed reactor under atmosphere pressure was studied. The process parameters such as heating rate, temperature, weight ratio of γ -alumina (Al₂O₃) to OPS and regeneration of γ -Al₂O₃ were investigated. The char yield and carbon yield of the carbonization of OPS at 400oC, heating rate of 10oC/min and the weight of ratio of γ -Al₂O₃ to OPS of 1:1 were 41.40 wt.% and 81.97 wt.%, respectively. This result was referred that the carbonization of OPS with γ -Al₂O₃ could recover 21.93 %wt of carbon element because the use of γ -Al₂O₃ as a bed material in a carbonization could promote the re-polymerization and coke formation during the thermal degradation of OPS. The regeneration of bed material was also studied. It was found that the use of regenerated γ -Al₂O₃ at 800oC for 1 hour under air resulted the char yield and carbon yield of 41.04 wt.% and 80.69 wt.%, respectively. Accordingly, the efficiency of γ -Al₂O₃ before and after regeneration was comparable. From this result, it can be concluded that char and coke on the surface of γ -Al₂O₃ can be used as an energy source with other fuels. The heating value of char and coke were about 7,089.47 kcal/kg char and 435.51 kcal/kg Al₂O₃, respectively.