Thermoliquefaction of palm oil fiber was investigated using supercritical ethanol as solvent. A semi-continuous laboratory scale unit was developed to investigate the effects of temperature (300-500°C), heating rate (10-30°C.min) and cracking time (10-30min) on the conversion of biomass in bio-oil. The main advantage of the proposed process is that a pure solvent is pumping through the reactor that contains the biomass, dispensing the use of biomass slurries. The yield of bio-oil ranged from 56% to 84%, depending on the experimental conditions. It was observed that an increase in working temperature led to an increase in the bio-oil production. Cracking time and heating rate variation had not shown a considerable effect on the conversion of biomass. The chemical profiles of bio-oil determined by GC/MS, indicate that at low temperature mainly sugar derivatives are produced, while at higher temperatures alcohols and phenolic are the majority compounds of the bio-oil.
Empty fruit bunch fiber (EFBF) is a lignocellulosic waste generated by the palm oil agribusiness. The amount of EFBF produced is equal to the oil obtained, and it can be used as raw material to obtain biocomposites. The objective of this work is to fragment the EFBF employing pressurized fluids in a semi-continuous system to obtain different biocomposites. For this, pure water and a mixture of water/carbon dioxide were employed as solvent to obtain sugar monomers and a mixture of compressed water/ethanol (1:1 vol.) to obtain crystalline cellulose. The experiments were conducted in the temperature range of 120 to 240 ºC, using reaction times between 5 and 15 min at 60 bar, and solvent flow rate of 0.75 mL.min -1 . A maximum of 30.47 mg.mL -1 of xylose was obtained at 210 ºC for 15 min of reaction with pure water as solvent. The best condition to obtain crystalline cellulose was 240 ºC for 30 minutes of reaction, obtaining 38.2% of cellulose from palm oil EFBF.
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