Pyrolysis and combustion of oil palm stone and palm kernel cake in fixed-bed reactors

The main objective of this research was to investigate the main characteristics of the thermo-chemical conversion of oil palm stone (OPS) and palm kernel cake (PKC). A series of combustion and pyrolysis tests were carried out in two fixed-bed reactors. The effects of heating rate at the temperature of 700 degrees C on the yields and properties of the pyrolysis products were investigated. The results from the combustion experiments showed that the burning rates increased with an increase in the air flow rate. In addition, the FLIC code was used to simulate the combustion of the oil palm stone to investigate the effect of primary air flow on the combustion process. The FLIC modelling results were in good agreement with the experimental data in terms of predicting the temperature profiles along the bed height and the composition of the flue gases. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.