An Evaluation of the Use of Midribs from Common Date Palm Cultivars Grown in Saudi Arabia for Energy Production

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the suitability of date palm midribs as an alternative source for energy production. The physical properties, chemical constituents, and fuel characteristics of the midribs of five common date palm cultivars (Barhi, Khalas, Khodry, Sukkari, and Sullaj) were determined. In addition to the frond base, the midribs were divided into three distinct parts (base, middle, and top) along the frond. The results showed that both the fibre saturation point and volumetric shrinkage of the date palm midribs were much higher than those of solid wood. There were significant differences in all of the chemical constituents of the midribs between the five date palm cultivars. The date palm midribs were characterised by higher levels of extractives (19.3% for Barhi to 21.7% for Sullaj) and ash contents (3.3% for Khodry to 5.8% for Khalas). The other chemical constituents were within the ranges found for other lignocellulosic materials, including softwood and hardwood. The heating values for the midribs ranged between 17.30 MJ/kg for the Barhi cultivar and 17.89 MJ/kg for the Khodry cultivar. The higher ash content and lower density of date palm midribs makes them less desirable for energy production. It can therefore be concluded that the frond base is not suitable for energy production.

Chemical Analysis of Different Parts of Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) Using Ultimate, Proximate and Thermo-Gravimetric Techniques for Energy Production

“…The higher extractives content of PL may be attributed to its open anatomical structure, which is accessible to the chemicals. These values are close to the values obtained on midribs of five date palm cultivars [7], and on some lignocellulosic residues [36], while they are lower than those reported for date palm trunk (PT) and rachis [11]. There is very little information to compare chemistry of the different parts of date palm residues, but the results found in this work are in partial agreement with previously published studies on non-identified date palm cultivars [17,50].…”

“…It can be seen that PT, PFB, FS and DPS had lower cellulose content than typical wood species, while the other parts fall in the range of these wood species. These results are in accordance with the findings of a previous work carried out by Amirou et al [11] on two date palm residues (trunk and rachis) and [7] on the midrib of five date palm cultivars. However, these values are lower than those reported for some lignocellulosic residues [36].…”

“…Five defect-free Sukkari cultivar date palms (Phoenix dactylifera L.) with ages ranging from 10-to 15-years, were used for the experiments [7]. All palms were harvested at the Experimental Station for Research and Agriculture of King Saud University, approximately 50 km from Deyrab (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia).…”

“…New renewable resources including corncobs [1], tobacco stems [2], rice waste [3], common reed [4,5], vine prunings [6], and date palm midribs [7], are getting more and more popular as alternative materials to solid wood harvested from natural forests for bioenergy production. Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.), one of the most important non-wood renewable resources in the Middle East, used mainly for its fruit, fiber and as a construction material [7,8] could also be considered a raw material for energy production.…”

“…Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.), one of the most important non-wood renewable resources in the Middle East, used mainly for its fruit, fiber and as a construction material [7,8] could also be considered a raw material for energy production. The residues are used in various industries as raw materials for…”