Combustion of oil palm stone in a pilot-scale fluidised bed reactor

Biomass is being generated in vast amounts from oil palm plantations particularly in developing countries such as Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. Oil palm stone (OPS) is currently considered a waste material and has not previously been considered for energy purposes. The main objective of this study was to investigate the thermochemical conversion of OPS in a pilot-scale fluidised bed combustor. The net heating value of OPS was 24.93 MJ/kg. The effect of primary air flowrate and initial bed temperature were the main parameters investigated. The bed and bed's surface temperature were found to decrease as the primary air flowrate increased. In all tests CO emissions were less than 0.2%. The emissions of SO₂ and HCl ranged from 0.02 ppm to 0.05 ppm, significantly below the permitted levels set by legislation. Stable combustion was observed at a bed temperature of 950 °C. The most abundant elements found in the ash were Al, Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, P, S and Si. However, due to the temperature regime used in the study fouling would not be an issue.