Process Safety and Environmental Protection 128 (2019) 30–35

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Process Safety and Environmental Protection

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/psep

Co-processing of oil palm waste and waste oil via microwave

co-torrefaction: A waste reduction approach for producing solid fuel
product with improved properties
Su Shiung Lam a,b,∗,1 , Yiu Fai Tsang c,1 , Peter Nai Yuh Yek b,d , Rock Keey Liew b,e ,
Mohammad Shahril Osman d , Wanxi Peng a,∗ , Wak Ha Lee f , Young-Kwon Park g,∗
a
School of Forestry, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, 450002, China
b
Pyrolysis Technology Research Group, Eastern Corridor Renewable Energy Group (ECRE), School of Ocean Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu,
21030 Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia
c
Department of Science and Environmental Studies, The Education University of Hong Kong, Tai Po, New Territories, Hong Kong
d
University College of Technology Sarawak, Department of Engineering, 96000, Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia
e
NV WESTERN PLT, No. 208B, Jalan Macalister, Georgetown, 10400, Pulau Pinang. Malaysia
f
RH Agrotech Sdn Bhd, No. 85-86, Pusat Suria Permata, Jalan Upper Lanang 12A, 96000 Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia
g
School of Environmental Engineering, University of Seoul, Seoul 02504, Republic of Korea

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Microwave co-torrefaction (MCT) was performed on empty fruit bunch (the most abundant waste from
Received 8 April 2019 oil palm industry) mixed with waste oil (used engine oil, used cooking oil) to simultaneously utilize
Received in revised form 14 May 2019 these waste materials to produce better quality solid fuel product. The effect of temperature and types
Accepted 23 May 2019
of waste oil on the product yield and fuel properties (high heating value (HHV), energy yield, and fuel
Available online 26 May 2019
ratio) were investigated. MCT provided a rapid heating (50–65 ◦ C/min) and a shorter process time of
5–8 min than that shown by conventional torrefaction performed using furnace (> 30 min). The rapid
Keywords:
heating could be attributed to the use of a cubical microwave cavity with helical lift for 2-dimensional
Microwave
Torrefaction
movement (rotational and translational motion) that allows uniform distribution of microwave radiation
Oil palm waste for heating and torrefaction. The empty fruit bunch torrefied with used engine oil at 250 ◦ C showed
Empty fruit bunch maximum energy yield of 100 wt% and produced solid fuel product with high mass yield (85.5 wt%),
Waste oil fuel ratio (1.8), carbon content (68.3 wt%) and fixed carbon content (62 wt%). Solid fuel product of high
Fuel higher heating value (28.0 MJ/kg) was produced from microwave co-torrefaction of empty fruit bunch
with used engine oil at 300 ◦ C. Our results demonstrate that microwave-co-torrefaction represents a
promising waste reduction approach to convert empty fruit bunch mixed with waste oil to produce solid
fuel with improved properties.
© 2019 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction trunks, empty fruit bunch, waste palm shells, and palm mesocarp
fibre. Oil palm fronds and oil palm trunks are available through-
About 20 million tons of crude palm oil was produced in out the year in the plantations area during pruning and replanting
Malaysia in 2017 (MPOB, 2017a) from approximately 5 million the palm trees and they are commonly utilised for soil remedia-
hectares of matured oil palm plantation (MPOB, 2017b). Subse- tion (Loh, 2017). However, significant amounts of other oil palm
quently, the palm oil mill also left behind a substantial amount waste, particularly empty fruit bunch (7.34 Mt/year) (Loh, 2017),
of palm waste that needs to be disposed of every year. Oil palm are usually left untreated at the palm oil mill. This situation has
industry produces several types of solid waste: oil palm fronds, offered an opportunity to reduce and utilise these oil palm wastes
as alternative renewable energy (Rudolfsson et al., 2015; Sippula
et al., 2017).
On the other hand, a large amount of used cooking oil (UCO)
∗ Corresponding authors. is continuously generated from households, restaurants, food pro-
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (S.S. Lam), [email protected] cessing industries and fast food restaurants every day after the
(W. Peng), [email protected] (Y.-K. Park). frying process at high temperature. UCO has been used as feedstock
1
Co-first authors.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psep.2019.05.034
0957-5820/© 2019 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
 S.S. Lam et al. / Process Safety and Environmental Protection 128 (2019) 30–35 31

Fig. 1. Experimental setup of microwave co-torrefaction.

for the transesterification process to produce biodiesel (Ahmad lenges were also faced from the use of microwave heating, such
Farid et al., 2017; Anuar and Abdullah, 2016; Hong et al., 2016). as the non-uniform temperatures distribution due to the prob-
However, some drawbacks like higher transportation cost, fatty lem of uniformity in the electromagnetic (EM) field distribution
acid and water content, relative lower energy of UCO compared to (Meredith, 1998).
diesel fuel have reduced the feasibility to produce biodiesel from The above findings provide the motivation of this study to
UCO. Hence, alternative methods should be developed for utilisa- examine the technical feasibility of developing microwave co-
tion of UCO to prevent an undesired environmental problem caused torrefaction (MCT) to allow simultaneous utilization of EFBP and
by UCO. Additionally, nearly 24 million metric tons (Mt) of the used waste oil to produce solid fuel product with improved properties for
engine oil (UEO) are generated each year (Ng et al., 2017). UEO con- storage and application as fuel. The MCT system is integrated with a
tains a mixture of aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons that can be helical lift for improved temperature uniformity and better saving
used as a potential source of high calorific value fuel, thus in some in energy. The effect of process temperature and type of waste oils
cases, UEO is improperly used directly for the combustion process were investigated on the product yield and fuel properties of the
without any pretreatment. There are concerns about the harmful solid fuel product.
flue gas (CO) released during incomplete combustion of UEO that
can lead to environmental pollution (Liew et al., 2019). 2. Materials and methods
Currently, empty fruit bunches (EFB) is converted into pellet
form (termed ‘EFBP’) and utilised as co-firing fuel in the burner. 2.1. Preparation of EFBP, UEO, and UCO
However, EFBP possesses low energy density, high moisture and
ash content thus it is less efficient compared to using coal as fuel Empty fruit bunches pellet (EFBP) were obtained from Seratok
when it directly used as co-firing fuel in boilers (Sami et al., 2001). palm oil mill, Sarawak, Malaysia. The EFBP, possessing a diameter of
Torrefaction represents a promising technology to convert and 8 mm and length of 5–20 mm, were initially air-dried followed by
improve the quality of EFBP into high grade solid co-firing fuel for shredding into powder for further analysis. Used engine oil (UEO)
use in a power plant or boiler application. Torrefaction is a mild was collected from the crankcase engine of car while used cooking
thermal decomposition process performed in an inert atmosphere oil (UCO) was obtained from a fast food restaurant. Both UEO and
at 200–300 ◦ C with the aim to increase the energy density of the UCO were filtered by filter paper to remove impurities and mixed
material by removing the water content and light volatiles (Shang with EFBP for subsequent treatment by microwave co-torrefaction.
et al., 2013). It was reported that the higher heating values (HHV)
of EFBP was about 20 MJ/kg (Lee et al., 2017; Sheng and Azevedo, 2.2. Design and experimental setup of microwave co-torrefaction
2005) while the HHV of torrefied EFBP can be enhanced to about
30 MJ/kg (Conag et al., 2017; Huang et al., 2017b). Fig. 1 presents the schematic diagram of the microwave co-
Current torrefaction studies focused on using conventional torrefaction (MCT) system, consisting mainly of six components:
heating by furnace (Bach et al., 2016; Chen et al., 2015; Chin et al., (1) waveguide and magnetron with fixed microwave power of
2013), and limited information is available on the combined used of 1 kW, (2) microwave cavity, (3) torrefaction reactor, (4) temper-
microwave heating and co-torrefaction of several feedstocks (Nam ature controller completed with thermocouple and data logger, (5)
and Capareda, 2015). Recently, microwave technology has been helical lift and (6) borosilicate condenser set. The helical lift was
integrated into the torrefaction process (Siritheerasas et al., 2017). operated at 24 rpm with 2 cm/min of rotational and translational
The application of microwave technology has shown advantages on motion in simultaneous mode, acting as a device to provide more
providing volumetric and rapid heating of bulk materials depend- uniform microwave heating to the EFBP. The torrefaction temper-
ing on the dielectric properties of the materials. Microwave power ature was measured using type K thermocouple, and the desired
and duration are the common process parameters to be studied torrefaction temperature was pre-set using the temperature con-
(Huang et al., 2017a; Iroba et al., 2017a, b; Natarajan et al., 2018). troller.
However, the torrefaction temperature and types of methods used The MCT was conducted in the self-purging mode to create an
to compensate the weight loss after torrefaction are not discussed inert atmosphere for torrefaction to occur. The use of nitrogen gas
in depth (Ren et al., 2014). There is a lack of understanding of the as purging gas (as commonly practised in conventional torrefac-
microwave heating mechanism during torrefaction. Several chal- tion system) is not required for this torrefaction design. Raw EFBP
32 S.S. Lam et al. / Process Safety and Environmental Protection 128 (2019) 30–35

Fig. 2. Temperature profile during microwave torrefaction of EFB pellet, EFB pellet with used engine oil (UEO) and EFB pellet with used cooking oil (UCO).

 
(50 g) was placed into the quartz reactor followed by the use of
= (Weighttorrefied )(HHVtorrefied )⁄(Weightraw )(HHVraw ) × 100
microwave heating at 1 kW to heat and perform torrefaction of the
EFBP up to a pre-set maximum temperature (200 ◦ C, 250 ◦ C, 300 ◦ C),
then the torrefaction duration was continued for 30 s. The temper-
ature profile during the torrefaction using microwave heating was Fuel ratio (%) = Fixed carbon⁄Volatile matter × 100
studied. Similar torrefaction procedure was repeated for dried EFBP
and EFBP mixed with waste oil (UCO, UEO). After the experiments,
torrefied pellets were cooled in a desiccator. Initial and final mass of 2.4. Moisture adsorption test on the solid fuel product
the sample was calculated by an analytical balance to obtain prod-
uct yield. The solid products obtained from the co-torrefaction of Moisture adsorption test was conducted in a chamber at a con-
EFBP and UCO was labelled as TEFBP-UCO whereas the solid prod- stant temperature of 30 ◦ C. The initial mass of the products was
uct obtained from the co-torrefaction between EFBP and UEO was measured by an analytical balance. The mass was determined for
labelled as TEFBP-UEO. 9 h (1 h interval), and the weight changes were recorded (Iroba et al.,
2017b).
2.3. Characterization of solid fuel product
3. Results and discussions
Proximate analysis was performed according to ASTM D 5142-
02a to determine the physical properties of the sample (moisture 3.1. Temperature profile of MAT
content, volatile matter and Ash) then fixed carbon was calculated
by mass difference. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis Fig. 2 shows the temperature profile of the microwave torrefac-
was performed via examination of the surface of the product using tion of EFB pellets and microwave co-torrefaction (MCT) of EFB
a JOEL-6000 scanning electron microscope at a voltage of 15 kV. The pellets mixed with waste oil. The increasing trend of tempera-
elemental composition of the product was analysed using a Flash ture over the process time indicates that there were three stages
EA1112 to measure the percentage of carbon (C), hydrogen (H), of heating involved in the torrefaction process: (1) drying stage
nitrogen (N) and sulphur (S) contents. Then, the oxygen (O) content (25–120 ◦ C), (2) heating stage (120–200 ◦ C) and (3) torrefaction
was calculated by mass difference (Liu and Han, 2015). The high stage (200–300 ◦ C). Similar trend was reported in the literatures
heating value (HHV) of the product was estimated from their ele- (Iroba et al., 2017a; Natarajan et al., 2018).
mental composition according to Equation 1 (Sheng and Azevedo, Rapid heating with a high heating rate (100–120 ◦ C/min) was
2005). observed for EFBP mixed with waste oil in the first 60 s. The high
heating rate was likely due to the interaction of microwave radi-
Higher Heating Value (HHV) = − 1.3675 + 0.3137 C ation with compounds with good microwave absorbency present
+ 0.7009 H + 0.0318 O in the feedstock (e.g. the moisture and polar compounds). Thus,
the microwave radiation was absorbed by these compounds and
subsequently induced a higher heating rate at the initial of the tor-
The mass yield and energy yields of the products were deter- refaction process. The heating rate was reduced to 40–50 ◦ C/min for
mined using Eq. (2) and Eq. (3), respectively to evaluate the the next 180 s before reaching a temperature of 300 ◦ C. This could
applicability of using microwave torrefaction for utilization of EFBP be attributed to the decrease in compounds with good microwave
(Huang et al., 2017c; Yan et al., 2009). Fuel ratio (fixed carbon over absorbency caused by the increasing process temperature and
volatile matter) as shown in Eq. 4, was used to evaluate the com- removal of these compounds from the feedstock (Omar et al., 2011;
bustibility of the product and its similarity to coal. Salema et al., 2013).
Microwave torrefaction of dried EFBP showed a different
Mass yield (%) = Weighttorrefied ⁄Weightraw × 100 trend of temperature profile. A relatively slower heating with
of 60 ◦ C/min was observed until 120 ◦ C followed by a much
Energy yield (%) slower heating rate (25 ◦ C/min) until 250 ◦ C. The heating rate was
 S.S. Lam et al. / Process Safety and Environmental Protection 128 (2019) 30–35 33

Table 1
Proximate content (wt%) of raw and torrefacted products.

EFBP TEFBP TEFBP-UEO TEFBP-UCO

Temperature (◦ C) 200 250 300 200 250 300 200 250 300
Moisture content (wt%) 15 4 2 1 2 1 1 2 1 1
Volatile matter (wt%) 62 52 35 33 47 34 32 49 36 33
Fixed carbona (wt%) 15 36 55 58 44 62 68 44 60 63
Ash (wt%) 8 8 8 8 5 3 3 5 3 3

EFBP: empty fruit bunch pellet, TEFBP: torrefied empty fruit bunch pellet, TEFBP-UEO: torrefaction of empty fruit bunch pellet mixed with used engine oil, TEFBP-UCO:
torrefaction empty fruit bunch pellet mixed with used cooking.
a
FC=100 wt% –Mc – VM – Ash).

Table 2
Elemental compositions (wt%) of EFBP and solid fuel product from microwave torrefaction and microwave co-torrefaction.

EFBP TEFBP TEFBP-UEO TEFBP-UCO

Temperature 200 250 300 200 250 300 200 250 300

C 43.0 46.2 55.1 59.0 51.5 68.3 73.5 49.9 63.0 68.2
H 6.0 5.5 5.2 5.1 9.8 8.7 8.2 8.9 8.8 8.0
N 1.2 1.3 0.5 0.5 0.8 0.6 0.6 1.1 1.0 0.7
S 0 0 0 0 0.2 0.1 0.1 0 0 0
Oa 49.0 47.0 39.2 35.4 37.7 22.3 17.6 40.1 27.2 23.1
O/C 0.9 0.8 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.2 0.2 0.6 0.3 0.3
H/C 1.7 1.4 1.1 1.0 2.3 1.5 1.3 2.1 1.7 1.4
HHVb 17.9 18.5 20.8 21.8 22.9 26.9 28.0 21.8 25.4 26.4
a
O% = 100% – C – H – N –S).
b
Estimate using Eq1 (HHV= –1.3675 + 0.3137 C + 0.7009 H + 0.0318 O).

increased to 100 ◦ C/min from 250 to 300 ◦ C. These results suggest after microwave co-torrefaction from 200 to 300 ◦ C, possibly due
that dried EFBP has relatively poor dielectric properties since it to increased decomposition and removal of volatile matter from
contained less amount of moisture (a good microwave absorbent) the mixture of EFBP and used engine oil owing to the higher heat-
present within to accelerate the heating of the feedstock, resulting ing rate (60.0–65.0 ◦ C/min) achieved compared to that of EFBP with
in lower heating rate observed. used cooking oil (50.0–55.0 ◦ C/min) (Fig. 2).
In contrast, more rapid heating with higher heating rate Moreover, solid product obtained from microwave co-
(50.0–65.0 ◦ C/min) was observed for microwave co-torrefaction torrefaction with waste oil at 300 ◦ C has presented a low ash
of EFBP mixed with waste oil compared to that observed for content (3 wt%). The addition of waste oils increased the amount
microwave torrefaction of EFBP on its own (35 ◦ C/min). The tor- of compounds with good microwave absorbency that was likely to
refaction of EFBP with UEO showed the shortest time (300 s) to have enhanced the torrefaction and subsequently the devolatiliza-
achieve at 300 ◦ C compared to that shown by torrefaction of EFBP tion of EFBP and waste oils, resulting in production of a solid
with UCO (325 s) and EFBP (480 s). The increased presence of com- product with lower amount of ash compared to that obtained from
pounds with good microwave absorbency (e.g. the moisture and microwave torrefaction of EFBP on its own.
polar compounds) in the mixture of EFBP and waste oils combined
with co-processing of materials (UEO, UCO) with easily ignitable
3.2.2. Elemental analysis
properties and high energy content were likely to have contributed
Table 2 presents the elemental composition (C, H, N, S and O)
to the higher heating rate observed, which have also led to shorter
of EFBP and solid fuel product from microwave torrefaction and
process time (300–325 s) required compared to microwave tor-
microwave co-torrefaction. The solid fuel product showed incre-
refaction of dried EFBP (475 s).
ment in the carbon content but lower content of oxygen, hydrogen
and nitrogen. In particular, the solid fuel product obtained from
3.2. Characterization of EFBP and solid fuel product from microwave co-torrefaction of EFBP with waste oil (i.e. TEFBP-UCO
microwave torrefaction and microwave co-torrefaction and TEFBP-UEO) showed a higher carbon and hydrogen content
but lower content of oxygen. Low content of sulphur (0.1-0.2 wt%)
3.2.1. Proximate analysis was detected in the TEFBP-UEO, possibly derived from the sulfur
Proximate analysis of EFBP, solid product from microwave originally present in used engine oil (Nam et al., 2018).
torrefaction (TEFBP), and solid product from microwave co- The carbon content and atomic ratio can be used as indica-
torrefaction of EFBP with used engine oil (TEFBP-UEO) and used tors to determine the degree of decomposition of hemicellulose
cooking oil (TEFBP-UCO) are presented in Table 1. EFBP samples in the sample (Budai et al., 2014). The torrefied products obtained
were consisted of majority volatile matter (62 wt%) and small at 300 ◦ C showed higher carbon content than that obtained at 200
amounts fixed carbon (15 wt%), moisture (15 wt%) and ash (8 wt%). and 250 ◦ C due to the increasing degree of devolatilisation at higher
Both microwave torrefaction and microwave co-torrefaction per- torrefaction temperature. This corroborates with the decreasing
formed over a temperature range of 200–300 ◦ C had promoted contents of oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen at higher torrefaction
the partial decomposition of the lignocellulosic material (cellu- temperature. The higher temperature had promoted the elimi-
lose, lignin, hemicellulose) present in the EFBP and waste oils, nation of more oxygenated compounds and breaking of weaker
resulting in production of a solid product with lower amount of chemical bonds (e.g. carboxyl, hydroxyl). Consequently, more heat
volatile matter (32–52 wt%) and higher amount of fixed carbon energy was generated at a higher temperature (300 ◦ C) to enhance
(36–68 wt%). In particular, the solid product from microwave co- the torrefaction process to produce carbon-rich torrefied products.
torrefaction (i.e. TEFBP-UCO and TEFBP-UEO) showed higher fixed According to Eq. 1, increasing of carbon and hydrogen contents after
carbon. TEFBP-UEO showed lower volatile matter than TEFBP-UCO torrefaction has directly improved the heating value of the solid fuel
34 S.S. Lam et al. / Process Safety and Environmental Protection 128 (2019) 30–35

Table 3
Energy properties of microwave co-torrefaction.

EFBP TEFBP TEFBP-UEO TEFBP-UCO

Temperature (◦ C) 200 250 300 200 250 300 200 250 300
Mass yield (wt%) – 87.5 72.0 67.4 90.6 85.5 81.3 91.3 84.2 80.0
Energy yield (%) – 90.3 81.1 70.7 94.8 100.5 84.7 71.1 98.2 83.0
Fuel ratio 0.2 0.7 1.6 1.8 0.9 1.8 2.1 0.9 1.7 1.9
Moisture adsorption (wt%) 15.0 5 3 3 1 0.5 0.5 1 0.5 0.5

product. The atomic ratio of H/C (1.3–2.3) showed slightly increas- 4. Conclusion
ing trend after microwave co-torrefaction due to the contribution
of hydrogen content from waste oil. Lower atomic ratio of H/C was Microwave co-torrefaction (MCT) of empty fruit bunch mixed
obtained from all torrefied products when higher torrefaction tem- with waste oil successfully produced a solid fuel product with
perature was used. A low value of H/C indicates a relatively higher improved properties for co-firing application. The use of microwave
thermal stability of torrefied products (Spokas, 2010; Xiao et al., heating provided a more rapid heating rate (50.0–65.0 ◦ C/min)
2016). for microwave co-torrefaction of empty fruit bunch mixed with
The solid fuel product from microwave co-torrefaction of EFBP waste oil to be completed within 5–6 min compared to microwave
mixed with used engine oil (TEFBP-UEO) showed higher heating torrefaction of empty fruit bunch on its own (35 ◦ C/min of heat-
value compared with that obtained from EFBP mixed with used ing rate) in 8–9 min. The empty fruit bunch torrefied with used
cooking oil (TEFBP-UCO). This could be explained by the presence engine oil (UEO) at 250 ◦ C showed a maximum energy yield of
of hydrocarbon of longer chains in used engine oil (C7 -C41 ) than 100 wt% and produced a solid fuel product with 86 wt% of mass
that present in the used cooking oil (Liew et al., 2019). Moreover, yield, fuel ratio at 1.8, 68 wt% of carbon content and 62 wt% of
both TEFBP-UEO and TEFBP-UCO showed lower sulfur content and fixed carbon content. The solid fuel product was detected with a
similar HHV to sub-bituminous coal (approximately 28–29 MJ/kg), higher heating value of 28 MJ/kg comparable to sub-bituminous
thus suggesting that microwave co-torrefaction of EFBP and waste coal. Our results demonstrate that microwave co-torrefaction rep-
oil can be a promising approach to produce coal-like fuel product. resents a potentially viable process to reduce empty fruit bunch
(the most abundant waste from oil palm industry) and waste oil by
co-processing them to form solid fuel.

Acknowledgement
3.3. Mass yield, energy yield, fuel ratio and moisture adsorption
The authors thank the technical support provided by University
Table 3 shows and compares the mass yield, energy yield, fuel
College of Technology Sarawak, Henan Agricultural University, Uni-
ratio and moisture adsorption of torrefied products to evaluate the
versiti Malaysia Terengganu, and University of Seoul. The authors
performance of microwave co-torrefaction. The mass yield of the
acknowledge the financial support by the University College of
torrefied product was decreased compared to EFBP when the tem-
Technology Sarawak for the conduct the research under the Uni-
perature was increased from 200 to 300 ◦ C in which the TEFBP
versity Grant Scheme:
showed the lowest product yield (67.4 wt%). The low mass yield
(Project No. UCTS/RESEARCH/<4/2018/19 > (01))
of TEFBP was due to the release of volatile matter (62 wt%) from
(Project No. UCTS/RESEARCH/<3/2018/04 > (01)).
the decomposition of the hemicellulose and cellulose during the
torrefaction process (Grams et al., 2019; Yang et al., 2007). For the
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