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

Abstract

Abstract:The objective of the study was to analyze chemical structure of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) by employing ultimate, proximate and thermo-gravimetric techniques. Samples from different anatomical parts of date palm, namely trunk, frond base, frond midrib, leaflets, coir, fruit stem, date stone, and fruit empty bunches were considered for the experiments. Based on the findings in this work palm leaflet samples gave the highest amount of extractives content (32.9%), followed by date palm stone specimens with 31.5%. Cellulose content values of 32.8% and 47.5% were obtained for date palm stone and palm coir samples, respectively. Overall the hemicellulose contents of all samples were relatively similar to those of typical wood or non-wood lignocellulosic materials with the two exceptions of palm coir and palm leaflets. Both palm coir and palm leaflet specimens had 12.6% and 16.1% hemicellulose content. Volatile matter values of 74.3% and 87.5% were determined for leaflets and fruit empty bunch samples. The ash content of the samples ranged from 1.4% for date stone to 15.2% for palm leaflet samples. The thermal decomposition was completed below a temperature of 500˝C with an exception of those samples taken from palm leaflets. Taken together the data indicate that date palm stone and palm coir revealed could be more viable for renewable energy production than the other specimens considered in this work.

Characterization of date palm frond as a fuel for thermal conversion processes

“…Biomass Corn stover 13 17.65 Walnut shell 13 20.18 Wheat straw 13 16.71 Cotton stalk 13 18 The calorific value of DPM samples were also verified with those from the work of Nasser et al, where the values were found to be in agreement with the reported figures 9 . The comparatively lower calorific values of DPF may be due to its low lignin content, as also revealed by Nasser et al in their work.…”

“…All samples were found to have lost half of their initial mass at around 320-340°C, where the 2nd stage active pyrolysis was ongoing, signifying that more than half of the tested DPF samples' mass was composed of hemicellulose and cellulose -the two most reactive natural polymeric fibers that break down at this particular thermal degradation stage. These findings were verified with the reported hemicellulose and cellulose content in Sukkari variety; hemicellulose content was reported to be between 43-45% by weight, and cellulose content was in the range of 28-31% by weight 9 . The high reactivity of DPF samples at low temperatures releasing high amount of volatiles revealed their potentials for pyrolysis and low temperature gasification purposes.…”

“…Lignin is a natural polymeric fiber in plant matter that does not only contain the highest amount of energy but is also the hardest to thermallydecompose 10 . Compared to all parts of a date palm tree (coir, trunk, fruit stalk, empty fruit bunch and stone), DPF have the lowest content of lignin of around 25-26% by weight 9 . The calorific value of DPM samples was observed to be comparable with that of other biomass.…”

“…The highest calorific values were obtained from the Jeddah and Sukkari varieties while the lowest was from Rothanah variety, although with no apparent difference. 9 15.47 Sukkari, midrib 9 17.57…”

Sudanese Agro-residue as a Novel Furnish for Pulp and Paper Manufacturing

“…Their cellulose content was 40.99% and 39.00%, respectively, which is suitable for pulp and paper manufacturing (close to or above 40%) (Samariha and Khakifirooz 2011). However, millet stalks had a similar content of 39.4%, and date palm leaves have 39.37% as observed by Harinarayana et al (2005) and Nasser et al (2016), respectively. Compared to other non-woods, millet stalks and date palm leaves were higher than that of sorghum 35.87% (Cardoso et al 2013), corncob residues 38.8% (Liu et al 2010), rice husk 36%, and cotton stalk 38% (Singh and Chouhan 2014).…”