Microwave assisted acid hydrolysis for bioethanol fuel production from sago pith waste.

Microwave assisted acid hydrolysis (H2SO4 and HCl with >0.5 mol/L) to produce bioethanol from sago pith waste (SPW) was studied. The energy consumption for microwave hydrolysis at different energy inputs and acid concentration were calculated. The overall energy consumption for bioethanol fuel production from SPW was assessed. A maximum of 88% glucose yield and 80% ethanol yield (3.1 g ethanol per 10 g SPW) were obtained using 1.0 mol/L H2SO4. Microwave hydrolysis using 1.0 mol/L H2SO4 consumed the minimum energy of 8.1 kJ to produce 1 g glucose from SPW when energy input was fixed at 54 kJ (900 W for 1 min). In general, 1 g glucose can produce 16 kJ. The overall energy consumption for fuel grade bioethanol production from SPW was 31.77 kJ per g ethanol, which was slightly higher than the lower heating values of ethanol (26.74 kJ/g ethanol).

Microwave induced plasma for solid fuels and waste processing: A review on affecting factors and performance criteria.

High temperature thermal plasma has a major drawback which consumes high energy. Therefore, non-thermal plasma which uses comparatively lower energy, for instance, microwave plasma is more attractive to be applied in gasification process. Microwave-induced plasma gasification also carries the advantages in terms of simplicity, compactness, lightweight, uniform heating and the ability to operate under atmospheric pressure that gains attention from researchers. The present paper synthesizes the current knowledge available for microwave plasma gasification on solid fuels and waste, specifically on affecting parameters and their performance. The review starts with a brief outline on microwave plasma setup in general, and followed by the effect of various operating parameters on resulting output. Operating parameters including fuel characteristics, fuel injection position, microwave power, addition of steam, oxygen/fuel ratio and plasma working gas flow rate are discussed along with several performance criteria such as resulting syngas composition, efficiency, carbon conversion, and hydrogen production rate. Based on the present review, fuel retention time is found to be the key parameter that influences the gasification performance. Therefore, emphasis on retention time is necessary in order to improve the performance of microwave plasma gasification of solid fuels and wastes.

Optimization and characterization of bio-oil produced by microwave assisted pyrolysis of oil palm shell waste biomass with microwave absorber.

In this study, solid oil palm shell (OPS) waste biomass was subjected to microwave pyrolysis conditions with uniformly distributed coconut activated carbon (CAC) microwave absorber. The effects of CAC loading (wt%), microwave power (W) and N2 flow rate (LPM) were investigated on heating profile, bio-oil yield and its composition. Response surface methodology based on central composite design was used to study the significance of process parameters on bio-oil yield. The coefficient of determination (R(2)) for the bio-oil yield is 0.89017 indicating 89.017% of data variability is accounted to the model. The largest effect on bio-oil yield is from linear and quadratic terms of N2 flow rate. The phenol content in bio-oil is 32.24-58.09% GC-MS area. The bio-oil also contain 1,1-dimethyl hydrazine of 10.54-21.20% GC-MS area. The presence of phenol and 1,1-dimethyl hydrazine implies that the microwave pyrolysis of OPS with carbon absorber has the potential to produce valuable fuel products.

A study on large scale cultivation of Microcystis aeruginosa under open raceway pond at semi-continuous mode for biodiesel production.

The study explores on upstream and downstream process in Microcystis aeruginosa for biodiesel production. The alga was isolated from temple tank, acclimatized and successfully mass cultivated in open raceway pond at semi-continuous mode. A two step combined process was designed and harvested 99.3% of biomass, the daily dry biomass productivity was recorded up to 28gm(-2)day(-1). The lipid extraction was optimized and achieved 21.3%; physicochemical properties were characterized and found 11.7% of FFA, iodine value 72% and 99.2% of ester content. The lipid was transesterified by a two step simultaneous process and produced 90.1% of biodiesel; the calorific value of the biodiesel was 38.8MJ/kg. Further, the physicochemical properties of biodiesel was characterized and found to be within the limits of American ASTM D6751. Based on the areal and volumetric biomass productivity estimation, M. aeruginosa can yield 84.1 tons of dry biomass ha(-1)year(-1).

A new technique to pyrolyse biomass in a microwave system: effect of stirrer speed.

A new technique to pyrolyse biomass in microwave (MW) system is presented in this paper to solve the problem of bio-oil deposition. Pyrolysis of oil palm shell (OPS) biomass was conducted in 800 W and 2.45 GHz frequency MW system using an activated carbon as a MW absorber. The temperature profile, product yield and the properties of the products were found to depend on the stirrer speed and MW absorber percentage. The highest bio-oil yield of 28 wt.% was obtained at 25% MW absorber and 50 rpm stirrer speed. Bio-char showed highest calorific value of the 29.5 MJ/kg at 50% MW absorber and 100 rpm stirrer speed. Bio-oil from this study was rich in phenol with highest detected as 85 area% from the GC-MS results. Thus, OPS bio-oil can become potential alternative to petroleum-based chemicals in various phenolic based applications.

Pyrolysis of oil palm empty fruit bunch biomass pellets using multimode microwave irradiation.

Oil palm empty fruit bunch pellets were subjected to pyrolysis in a multimode microwave (MW) system (1 kW and 2.45 GHz frequency) with and without the MW absorber, activated carbon. The ratio of biomass to MW absorber not only affected the temperature profiles of the EFB but also pyrolysis products such as bio-oil, char, and gas. The highest bio-oil yield of about 21 wt.% was obtained with 25% MW absorber. The bio-oil consisted of phenolic compounds of about 60-70 area% as detected by GC-MS and confirmed by FT-IR analysis. Ball lightning (plasma arc) occurred due to residual palm oil in the EFB biomass without using an MW absorber. The bio-char can be utilized as potential alternative fuel because of its heating value (25 MJ/kg).

Pyrolysis and combustion kinetics of date palm biomass using thermogravimetric analysis.

The present research work is probably the first attempt to focus on the kinetics of pyrolysis and combustion process for date palm biomass wastes like seed, leaf and leaf stem by using Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) technique. The physical properties of biomass wastes were also examined. Proximate and ultimate analysis of the date palm biomass was investigated. FT-IR analysis was conducted to determine possible chemical functional groups in the biomass. Results showed that date palm seed and leaf can be characterized as high calorific values and high volatile content biomass materials as compared to the leaf stem. Kinetic analysis of this biomass was also given a particular attention. It is concluded that these biomasses can become useful source of energy, chemicals and bio-char.

Microwave induced pyrolysis of oil palm biomass.

The purpose of this paper was to carry out microwave induced pyrolysis of oil palm biomass (shell and fibers) with the help of char as microwave absorber (MA). Rapid heating and yield of microwave pyrolysis products such as bio-oil, char, and gas was found to depend on the ratio of biomass to microwave absorber. Temperature profiles revealed the heating characteristics of the biomass materials which can rapidly heat-up to high temperature within seconds in presence of MA. Some characterization of pyrolysis products was also presented. The advantage of this technique includes substantial reduction in consumption of energy, time and cost in order to produce bio-oil from biomass materials. Large biomass particle size can be used directly in microwave heating, thus saving grinding as well as moisture removal cost. A synergistic effect was found in using MA with oil palm biomass.