BIOMASS PELLETS WITH CHEMICAL PRE-TREATMENT (EFB)
By Felicia Agatha
11504009
BACHELOR’S DEGREE in
CHEMICAL ENGINNERING- SUSTAINABLE ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT FACULTY OF LIFE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
SWISS GERMAN UNIVERSITY The Prominence Tower
Jalan Jalur Sutera Barat No. 15, Alam Sutera Tangerang, Banten 15143 - Indonesia
July 2019
Revision afte r the Thesis Defense on 18 July 2019
Felicia Agatha STATEMENT BY THE AUTHOR
I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge, it contains no material previously published or written by another person, nor material which to a substantial extent has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at any educatio nal institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis.
Felicia Agatha
_____________________________________________
Student Date
Approved by:
Dr. –Ing. Evita Herawati Legowo
_____________________________________________
Thesis Advisor Date
Dr.Saptadi Darmawan, S.Hut, M.Si
_____________________________________________
Thesis Co-Advisor Date
Dr. Dipl. –Ing. Samuel P. Kusumocahyo
_____________________________________________
Dean Date
Felicia Agatha ABSTRACT
APPLICATION OF EMPTY FRUIT BUNCH WASTE FOR BIOMASS PELLETS WITH CHEMICAL PRE-TREATMENT (EFB)
By Felicia Agatha
Dr. –Ing. Evita Herawati Legowo, Advisor Dr. Saptadi Darmawan, S.Hut, M.Si, Co-Advisor
SWISS GERMAN UNIVERSITY
Fossil energy has begun depleting and has to be replaced with alternative energy. One of the alternative energy sources is biomass. Indonesia is the largest palm oil producer in the world. It has high volume of waste especially empty fruit bunch waste. Bio mass pellet can be made from empty fruit bunch. However, from the previous research, the ash content has not been fulfilled the pellets standard characterizations. Chemical pre- treatment expected to meet the standard characterization. The research objectives were to produce biomass pellets to meet the requirement of the pellets standard, to determine the suitable chemical pre-treatment, and to determine the suitable binder ratio. This research thesis experiment consists of shredding, chopping, dr ying, grinding, and sieving as physical pre-treatment and chemical pre-treatment using alkalization and washing. The sodium hydroxide (NaOH) was used for the alkalization process with 3 variations of concentration and 2 variations of duration time. The binder used was tapioca paste with 2 variations of concentration. The analyses of biomass pellets characteristic are density, compressive strength, moisture content, ash content, volatile matter, fixed carbon, and calorific value. The result shows that empty fruit bunch are qualified to be considered as biomass pellets except ash content. It had decreased but has not met the standard characterizations.
Keywords: Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunches, Biomass, Biomass Pellets, Chemical pre - treatment, Alkalization process, Tapioca
Felicia Agatha
© Copyright 2019 by Felicia Agatha All rights reserved
Felicia Agatha DEDICATION
I dedicate this works first to God
I also dedicate this to my family, lecturers, and friends for their support, help, and kindness without them none of my success would be achieved
Felicia Agatha ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my gratitude to the God for His blessings and guidance in my thesis work. I also would like to extend my sincere thanks to:
1. My advisor, Dr, -Ing Evita H. Legowo for her guidance, support, help, advices, and motivation during my thesis period
2. My co-advisor, Dr. Saptadi Darmawan, S.Hut, M.Si for his great help, support, guidance, and time during my thesis period
3. My advisor in Indonesian Research for Agricultural and Engineering in Serpong, Mrs. Elita Rahmarestia Widjaya for her guidance, support, help, advices, and time during my thesis period
4. PT. Sahabat Mewah & Makmur / AANE Biogas Plant in Belitung for the great cooperation and opportunity given to visit the palm oil industry site 5. To all of the people in Indonesian Research for Agricultural and Engineering
in Serpong for their cooperation
6. To all of the people in Forest Product Research and Development Center, Gunung Batu, Bogor for their cooperation and support
7. All of my friends from Swiss German University espec ially from Faculty of Life Sciences Technology for their company, support, help, motivation, advices during my thesis period
8. To all people that I could not mention one by one, all of them who has been there for their part of time
Felicia Agatha TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
STATEMENT BY THE AUTHOR ... 2
ABSTRACT... 3
DEDICATION ... 5
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... 6
TABLE OF CONTENTS ... 7
LIST OF FIGURES ... 10
LIST OF TABLES ... 11
CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION ... 12
1.1 Background ... 12
1.2 Research Objectives ... 13
1.3 Significance of Study ... 14
1.4 Research Questions ... 14
1.5 Hypothesis... 14
2.1 Biomass ... 15
2.1.1 Biomass Resources in Indonesia ... 16
2.2 Biomass Pellet... 16
2.3 Palm Oil ... 17
2.1.3 Palm Oil Resources in Indonesia... 18
2.4 Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB)... 19
2.5 Alkalization Process... 21
2.6 Biomass Pellet Production ... 22
2.6.1 Size Reduction ... 23
2.6.2 Drying ... 23
2.6.3 Pelletizing ... 24
Felicia Agatha
2.8 Biomass Pellet Characterization ... 25
2.8.1 Density... 26
2.8.2 Moisture Content ... 26
2.8.3 Ash Content ... 27
2.8.4 Calorific Value ... 27
2.8.5 Volatile matter ... 28
2.8.6 Fixed carbon ... 29
CHAPTER 3 – RESEARCH METHODS ... 30
3.1 Date and Venue ... 30
3.2 Materials and Equipment ... 30
3.2.1 Materials ... 30
3.2.2 Equipment... 30
3.3 Design of Experiments... 31
3.4 Experimental Procedure ... 33
3.4.1 Physical Pre-treatment ... 33
3.4.1.1 Shredding Process... 33
3.4.1.2 Chopping Process ... 34
3.4.1.3 Grinding Process... 35
3.4.1.4 Sieving Process ... 35
3.4.2 Chemical Pre-treatment ... 36
3.4.2.1 Alkalization Process ... 36
3.4.2.2 Washing Process ... 37
3.4.2.3 Drying Process ... 37
3.4.3 Manufacturing ... 38
3.4.3.1 Binder Preparation ... 38
3.4.3.2 Pelletizing Process ... 38
3.4.4 Analytical Procedure ... 39
3.4.4.1 Mechanical Strength ... 39
3.4.4.2 Proximate Analysis ... 40
Felicia Agatha
3.4.4.2.2 Moisture Content... 40
3.4.4.2.3 Ash Content... 41
3.4.4.2.4 Volatile Matter ... 41
3.4.4.2.5 Fix Carbon... 42
3.4.4.2.5 Calorific Value ... 42
4.1 Compressive Strength Analysis of Biopellet ... 44
4.2 Proximate Analysis of Biopellet ... 48
4.2.1 Density Analysis... 48
4.2.2 Moisture Content Analysis ... 50
4.2.3 Ash Content Analysis ... 53
4.2.4 Volatile Matter Analysis... 57
4.2.5 Fix Carbon Analysis ... 60
4.2.6 Calorific Value Analysis ... 62
CHAPTER 5 – CONCLUSIONS AND RECCOMENDATIONS ... 66
5.1 Conclusions ... 66
5.2 Recommendations ... 67
REFERENCES ... 68
Appendix 1 Compressive Strength Calculation ... 70
Appendix 2 Density Calculation ... 72
Appendix 3 Moisture Content Calculation ... 74
Appendix 4 Ash Content Calculation ... 76
Appendix 5 Volatile Matter Calculation ... 78
Appendix 6 Fix Carbon Calculation ... 80
Appendix 7 Calor Value Calculation ... 82
CURRICULUM VITAE ... 83
