Development of bio-fuel from palm frond via fast pyrolysis

In order to fulfill the fuel demand in the future, Indonesia has to find a sustainable alternative for its energy. Energy source in the form of biomass is a promising alternative since its availability is abundance in this tropical country. Biomass can be converted into liquid fuel via fast pyrolysis by contacting the solid biomass into hot medium in the absence of oxygen. Hot sand is the common heat carrier for fast pyrolysis purposes but it is very abrasive and required high pyrolysis temperature (450-600 degrees C). This paper will discuss on the equipment design and experiment of fast pyrolysis of palm frond using high boiling point thermal oil as heat carrier. Experiments show that by using thermal oil as heat carrier, bio-oil can be produced at lower pyrolysis temperature of 350 degrees C, compared to the one using hot sand as heating carrier. The yield of bio-oil production is 36.4 % of biomass feeding. The water content of bio-oil is 52.77 % mass while heating value is 10.25 MJ/kg.