Physical Treatment of Oil Palm Shell for Briquette Production as Bioenergy at Remote Area

Abstract

The daily needs of energy in remote areas, Indonesia, is dominated by biomass waste. The abundant types of biomass waste for heat transfer is empty fruits shell (EFS) of oil palm as briquette. This research discussed a brief analysis of oil palm shell by using physical treatment at different crushing pressure. It was also to examine the adequate size of particle for improving the heating value of briquette. The crushing pressure had a height dimension of 20 cm, as well as the briquette mold with a diameter of 2 cm and a height of 1 cm. The oil palm shell which was applied physical treatment at different crushing pressure of 400 J, 550 J, and 700 J, that resulted in particle size is smaller than 800 µm, 800 µm to 1 700 µm, 1 700 µm to 2 000 µm, and bigger than 2 000 µm. The adequate size of particle for briquette was found to be < 800 µm, which reached the heating value of 20 042.32 J g–1 and ash residue of 20 %. This study showed the advantages of oil palm shell briquette by using physical treatment is suitable and sustainable alternative to daily life use in Indonesia.

Physical Properties of Varied Composition of Peanut Shell and Palm Oil Shell’s Briquettes

“…A considerable amount of research has been conducted on briquettes, encompassing studies on various raw material combinations. These include investigations on a mixture of pine and peanut shells for briquette production [5], research on a blend of peanut shells and corn stover as briquette material [6], the creation of briquettes from corn cobs, corn stems, soybean shells, peanut shells, rice husks, and rice straw [7], the examination of the impact of shelled nut shell warming rates utilizing the TG-FTIR (Thermo gravimetry Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy) method [8], and the utilization of palm oil shell waste as a raw material for briquette production [9]. Additionally, there are studies on designing briquette stoves using raw materials such as palm shells, durian skins, and coconut shells [10], producing briquettes from palm oil shell waste and acacia shell waste using the response surface method [11], creating briquettes from waste peanut shells using the pyrolysis method [12], forming briquettes from palm oil shells and mango shells [13], and manufacturing briquettes from sawdust, coffee skins, khat waste, and dry grass, with binders made from clay and paper waste [14].…”