BIOPELET AS ENERGY SOURCE
By
Diah Ayu Zubaidah 11404016
BACHELOR’S DEGREE in
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING –
SUSTAINABLE ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT CONCENTRATION 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 after Thesis Defense on Thursday, 18th July 2019
Diah Ayu Zubaidah 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 educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis.
Diah Ayu Zubaidah
____________________________________________
Student Date
Approved by:
Dr. –Ing. Evita H. Legowo
___________________________________________
Thesis Advisor Date
Prof (R). Dr. Gustan Pari, M.Si, Co-Advisor
____________________________________________
Thesis Co-Advisor Date
Dr. Dipl. -Ing. Samuel P. Kusumocahyo
____________________________________________
Dean Date
Diah Ayu Zubaidah UTILIZATION OF OIL PALM MESOCARP (OPM) AS RAW MATERIAL OF BIO
PELLET AS ENERGY SOURCE
By
Diah Ayu Zubaidah Dr. –Ing. Evita H. Legowo
Prof. Dr. Gustan Pari, BSc. Dipl.IV, M.Si, Co-Advisor
SWISS GERMAN UNIVERSITY
As one of the largest oil palm producers, Indonesia has produced a significant amount of palm oil products, in which the production increases every year. Due to that reason, the plantation of oil palm had also produced increasing amount of waste. Solid wastes from oil palm plantation are divided into several types. In this research, the researcher focuses on the work surrounding the mesocarp fiber (MF) wastes. The objective of this thesis work is to utilize the oil palm mesocarp (OPM) to create bio pellet as a reliable energy stabilizer in Indonesia. The experiments were done through several steps which consists of physical and chemical treatments. The physical treatments involve grinding, drying, mixing and pelletizing and the chemical treatment involved a process called alkalization in order to reduce the ash content. The alkali used in this thesis work was sodium hydroxide (NaOH) with various percentages. The characteristics of bio pellet were analyzed by its mechanical strength, proximate analysis and calorific value. The results show that the most effective OPM bio pellets are at 20% NaOH and 0% of binder and 25% NaOH with 0% of binder.
It is also shown that the more NaOH percentage used as reactant results less ash content produced.
Keywords: Biomass Pelllet, Mesocarp, Oil Palm Mesocarp, Oil Palm Waste, Biopellet, Pelletizing, Sodium Hydroxide, Tapioca Binder.
Diah Ayu Zubaidah
© Copyright 2019 By Diah Ayu Zubaidah
All rights reserved
Diah Ayu Zubaidah DEDICATION
I dedicate this thesis to my beloved Mom, Sumarnawatie BSc. I would like to dedicate this thesis work to my role model, Dr. –Ing. Evita H. Legowo who continues to inspire me to be an independent, strong, diligent individual and to keep on pursuing my dreams. I would also like to dedicate this thesis to my country, Indonesia, with hope that this thesis work could help to improve renewable energy research in order to support energy balance in Indonesia.
Diah Ayu Zubaidah ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Firstly, I would like to thank the almighty God, Allah S.W.T without whom nothing is possible. Secondly, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my advisor Dr. – Ing. Evita H. Legowo for the infinite support, knowledge, and radiating excitement in regards to teaching and guiding. Without her, this research would not have been possible.
I would also like to thank my co-advisor Prof. Dr. R. Gustan Pari, Msi, BSc. from Forest Product Research and Development Center, Gunung Batu, Bogor, for providing me the indispensable advice, support and benefiting aspects from different point of view for my thesis work. In addition, I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Saptadi Darmawan, S.Hut., MSi. who introduced me to bio pellet and also accepted me as his second student.
To Mr. Derry, Mrs. Suci, Mr. Riyanta thank you for always putting my concerns first no matter how busy they were. I would also like to thank to Mrs. Elita R Widjaya, STP, M.EngSc, PhD for her valuable guidance and encouraging all the time.
Last but not least, there are so many people I would like to thank for helping me during this thesis work since last year. I would like to thank my big family for the support, both financially and morally. Big thanks to my mom for her love and for her unstoppable prayer.
I also want to thank to Jannik Steinbach, Indah Rani Puspita and family, Muhammad Rifky Putra for always helping and comforting me even though he was also doing his thesis work.
My classmate; Alwan, Anisa, Firman, Joshua, Regina, Tungky, Felita, Bjorn, Devin, Nicholas, and more for their endless support when I was feeling down and their persistence to teach me when it comes to difficult subjects. Thank to Jessline, Sarah, Hilya, Triandra, Christo, Randa, Pamungkas, Martin, Catur, Yoseph, Sabrina, Bunga, Devi, Mochammad Fariz Herdiansyah and the Hatchi team for their endless attempts to make me laugh. For without the aforementioned, I would have not made it this far.
Diah Ayu Zubaidah Page
STATEMENT BY THE AUTHOR ... 1
ABSTRACT ... 2
DEDICATION ... 4
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... 5
TABLE OF CONTENTS ... 6
LIST OF FIGURES ... 8
LIST OF TABLES ... 9
CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION ... 10
1.1 Background ... 10
1.2 Research Problems ... 11
1.3. Research Objectives ... 11
1.4. Significance of Study ... 11
1.5. Research Question ... 12
1.6. Hypothesis ... 12
CHAPTER 2 - LITERATURE REVIEW ... 13
2.1 Energy Consumption in Indonesia ... 13
2.2 Renewable Energy in Indonesia ... 15
2.3 Oil Palm Plantation ... 15
2.4 Oil Palm Processing ... 17
2.4 Waste of Oil Palm Industry ... 21
2.5. Biomass ... 22
2.6. Biomass Properties ... 23
2.7. Biomass Pellet ... 25
2.8. Biomass Pellet Production ... 26
2.9. Pellet Production ... 30
2.10. Colling and Screening ... 30
CHAPTER 3 – RESEARCH METHODS ... 32
3.1 Venue and Time ... 32
3.2 Materials and Equipment ... 32
3.2.1 Materials ... 32
Diah Ayu Zubaidah
3.2.2. Equipment ... 32
3.3 Design of Experiment ... 33
3.3.1 Physical Pre-treatment ... 34
3.3.2 Chemical Pre-treatment ... 34
3.3.3 Manufacturing ... 34
3.4 Experimental Procedure ... 35
3.4.1. Physical Pre-treatment ... 35
3.4.2 Alkali Preparation ... 35
3.4.3 Washing ... 36
3.4.4 Drying ... 36
3.4.5. Binder Preparation ... 37
3.4.6. Sample Preparation ... 38
3.4.7. Pelletizing ... 39
3.5. Analytical Method ... 40
3.5.1 Density ... 40
3.5.2 Mechanical Strength ... 40
3.5.3 Proximate Analysis ... 41
3.5.4. Calorific Value ... 44
CHAPTER 4 – RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS ... 46
4.1 Mesh Selection ... 46
4.2 Experiment Data ... 47
4.2.1. Density ... 47
4.2.2. Compressive Strength ... 49
4.2.3 Moisture Content ... 51
4.2.4 Ash Content ... 53
4.2.5 Volatile Matter ... 55
4.2.6 Fix Carbon ... 57
4.2.7 Calorific Value ... 59
CHAPTER 5 – CONCLUSIONS AND RECCOMENDATIONS ... 61
5.1 Conclusions ... 61
5.2 Recommendations ... 61
REFERENCES ... 62
CURRICULUM VITAE ... 67