ABSTRACT. The reserves of non-renewable energy sources such as coal, crude oil and natural gas are not limitless, they gradually get exhausted and their price continually increases. In the last four decades, researchers have been focusing on alternate fuel resources to meet the ever increasing energy demand and to avoid dependence on crude oil (Karunanithy et al. 2012). Amongst different sources of renewable energy, biomass residues hold special promise due to their inherent capability to store solar energy and amenability to subsequent conversion to convenient solid, liquid and gaseous fuels. At present, among the coconut farm wastes such as husks, shell, coir dust and coconut leaves, the latter is considered the most grossly under-utilized by in situ burning in the coconut farm as means of disposal. In order to utilize dried coconut leaves and to improve its biomass properties, this research attempts to produce solid fuel by torrefaction using dried coconut leaves for use as alternative source of energy that can be utilized in the indirect drying of coconut meat in the farm-level to produce copra. Torrefaction is a thermal method for the conversion of biomass operating in the low temperature range of 200 o C-300 o C under atmospheric conditions in absence of oxygen. Dried coconut leaves were torrefied at different feedstock conditions. The key torrefaction products were collected and analyzed. Physical and combustion characteristics of both torrefied and untorrefied biomass were investigated. Torrefaction of dried coconut leaves significantly improved the heating value compared to that of the untreated biomass. Proximate compositions of the torrefied biomass also improved and were comparable to coal. The distribution of the products of torrefaction depends highly on the process conditions such as torrefaction temperature and residence time. Physical and combustion characteristics of torrefied biomass were superior making it more suitable for fuel applications.
The traditional methods of copra processing such as sun-drying and smoke-drying are still generally implemented in the Philippines by coconut manufacturers. These methods produce aflatoxin and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) in copra and crude coconut oil (CNO) that resulted to very low prices of copra-related products in the world market. This research aims to improve the quality of the products of the Philippine coconut manufacturing industries by employing modern design engineering and technology to coconut processing that would develop highvalue exportable coconut products. The Wijose Process of coconut processing developed for the production of copra, milk and dietary flour resulted to 94.7% recovery of the coconut fruit parts and waste materials. Seven mathematical models were examined to describe the drying behavior of coconut meat slices at 60, 70 and 80 o C. The modified combined decomposition model (MCDM) gave the best fit with high coefficient of determination value. Solid fuel was produced by torrefaction from dried coconut leaves that significantly improved its heating value compared to that of the untreated biomass. A coconut processing plant was developed based on the conceptual design of the Wijose Process.
Torrefaction is a thermal pretreatment process used to produce solid fuel by heating biomass below 300°C under anoxic conditions. This pretreatment process improves the fuel characteristics of Cogon grass, and its energy density was comparable to that of sub-bituminous class B and C coals. Sun-dried Cogon grass was torrefied in a fabricated batch torrefaction reactor, and their solid and organic condensate products were analyzed. A response surface methodology was used to examine the effects of the torrefaction reaction temperature, feed size, reaction time, and Cogon grass parts (CPs) on energy density, mass yield, and energy yield of the solid products as well as the effects of reaction temperature and reaction time on the energy density and mass yield of the organic condensate. The mass yield decreases as the reaction temperature is increased, whereas it increases as the feed shifts from leaves to nodes, from 54% at 250°C to 43% at 285°C and 39% using leaves to 60% using nodes. The energy yield increases from 50% to 82% as the feed shifts from leaves to nodes. This is, however, compensated by an increase of energy density by 34%. In addition, the energy density of the condensed gas products can be predicted using the four process parameters as an input variable on the surface response model for the energy density of condensed organic volatiles.
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