Pyrolysis of palm oil wastes for enhanced production of hydrogen rich gases

A study on pyrolysis of palm oil wastes in a countercurrent fixed bed was carried out, aiming to characterize the hydrogen rich gas products in view of enhanced energy recycling. The effects of temperature, residence time and catalyst adding on the yields and distribution of hydrogen rich gas products were investigated. The main gas species generated, as identified by Micro-GC, were H 2, CO, CO 2, CH 4 and trace amounts of C 2H 4 and C 2H 6. With temperature increasing from 500 °C to 900 °C, the total gas yield was enhanced greatly and reached the maximum value (∼ 70 wt.%, on the raw biomass sample basis) at 900 °C with big portions of H 2 (33.49 vol.%) and CO (41.33 vol.%). Residence time showed a significant influence on the upgrading of H 2 and CO 2 yields. The optimum residence time (9 s) was found to get a higher H 2 yield (10.40 g/kg (daf)). The effect of adding chemicals (Ni, γ-Al 2O 3, Fe 2O 3 and La/Al 2O 3, etc.) on gas product yield was investigated and adding Ni showed the greatest catalytic effect with the maximum H 2 yield achieved at 29.78 g/kg (daf).