Optimizing Palm Biomass Energy though Size

Reduction

Mustafa Kamal Abdul Aziz
#1
, Noor Azian Morad
#2
, Noel Wambeck*
3
, Mohd Halim Shah
4

#
Centre of Lipids Engineering and Applied Research (CLEAR),
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia International Campus, 54100, Kuala Lumpur
1
clear.utm@gmail.com
2
azian@ic.utm.my
*
AME Consultants Sdn. Bhd., No. 18-2, Jln 5A/6, Tmn Setapak Indah, 53100, Kuala Lumpur

Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Faculty of Engineering,

Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
4
mshalim@eng.upm.edu.my


Abstract Solids oil palm biomass in the form of empty fruit
bunches (EFB), palm press fibre (PPF), palm kernel shell (PKS),
palm trunks and fronds has been identified as one of the main
source of renewable energy with great potential in Malaysia.
Recent development in the industry requires proper treatment
of the palm biomass so that it generates clean energy. One of the
treatment of palm biomass is size reduction since this will
remove excess moisture and oil. It is vital to establish the
correlations between size of palm biomass on moisture and the
calorific values. By modeling and simulation, optimised blends
of palm biomass consisting of EFB, PPF and PKS can be mixed
to give the maximum power output. The physical and calorific
properties of palm biomass were established through
experimental work as well as plant data collected in this study.
The simulated palm biomass blends through this study was
validated with plant data from previous studies.
Size reduction reduced moisture content significantly in the
oil palm biomass namely EFB from 52 to 40 %. With size
reduction, the calorific values of blends can increase by 34% and
further improve the Net Energy Availability Value. The study
suggests that an optimised blend from the oil palm biomass
would further improve the calorific value. Through improved
processing technology, the palm oil industry will continue to
strive for sustainability development addressing both social and
economic aspect simultaneously.

Keywords palm biomass, renewable energy, moisture,
size reduction, biomass blends
I. INTRODUCTION
The oil palm cultivation in Malaysia occupies 4.05
million hectares or 60 % of agricultural land. There are
currently 388 palm oil mills which produce 15 million tonnes
of crude palm oil (CPO). For every tonne of CPO produced, 9
tonnes of palm biomass is generated and this is about 135
million tonnes biomass [1]. Most of the oil palm plantations
located in Peninsular Malaysia is concentrated in Johor,
Pahang and Perak States while in East Malaysia, plantation is
concentrated on the east coast of Sabah and Northern region
of Sarawak [2]. These are within a cluster served by well
developed infrastructure and logistics such as roads, power,
houses, and skilled labour.
The fresh fruit bunches (FFB) with weights between 10-
40 kg contains oil bearing fruitlets the size of a plum. During
milling, CPO is extracted out from these sterilised fruitlets
resulting in massive palm biomass. In principle, there are two
main types of solid biomass available in oil palm estates and
mills such as:
continuous biomass from mills; empty fruit bunches
(EFB), mesocarp fibre or palm press fibre (PPF) and
palm kernel shells (PKS).
periodic and intermittent biomass from oil palm estates
though replanting; oil palm trunks and fronds.
The energy generated from palm biomass may be able to
sustain a palm oil mill or even produce an energy surplus
which can be utilised in a rural community especially in East
Malaysia. This has sparked a lot of interest in the potential
use of palm biomass for energy [2], [3], [4], [5] and [6].
Traditionally, the 1
st
generation palm oil mill complexes
located within accessible distance to the oil palm estates
where FFB are used to produce crude palm oil (CPO) and
crude palm kernel oil (CPKO), the resultant empty fruit
bunches (EFB), are combusted in on-site incinerators where
the ash is later distributed back to plantation as fertiliser.
These typically old and improperly maintained incinerators
are often inefficient in combustion. This was before the 21
st

century.
The 2
nd
generation complexes were the huge bioenergy
and biodiesel complexes created separately during the
bioenergy and biodiesel boom of 2003-2007. Here, the EFB
and other biomass were use to produce energy for the mill
and create surplus energy. The best example is the TSH
Kunak Palm Oil Mill,Tawau, Sabah, East Malaysia. However,
increasing global commodities prices has raised capital cost
of the plant, the electricity transformer station and the ability
to fulfil the minimum 8000 hours availability to the national
electricity grid. Therefore, these bioenergy (electricity
production) projects have stalled, burdened by unfeasible
tariff prices.
A new legislation in Malaysia has prohibited the use of
untreated EFB as boiler feed in palm oil mills due to the
polluted air generated because of excess moisture content
which contributed inefficient combustion. The EFB is given a
particular attention since it forms the bulk of palm biomass
978-1-4577-0005-7/11/$26.00 2011 IEEE
and it is relatively large thus making it
handle compared to PPF and PKS. Moreo
demand for PKS to be utilised for other us
carbon.
Currently, palm oil mills have to
treatment of the palm biomass generated p
as boiler feed. The EFB has to be squeezed
to remove oil and excess moisture, followe
few mills have resorted to an extra ste
biomass by introducing a size reduction
new requirements that palm oil mills shoul
2020, the challenge to improve is real.
II. METHODOLOGY
The basic data on a typical palm biom
palm oil mills were collected from vario
literature [3], [4] and [5] as well as palm
duration of this study. The current pretre
information of palm biomass EFB were co
oil mills during this study.
Experiments on pretreatment of EFB w
the facilities of Sawipac Malaysia Sdn. Bh
Malaysia. During the experiments, tonne
from nearby mills in Kluang area we
Sawipac Sdn. Bhd. The experiments con
Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. were conducted over
years, the actual experiments were ca
between 1 2 hours in a day, once a week
the experiments vary and depends on
supplies of EFB from the palm oil m
pretreatment flowchart of EFB is as shown




Fig. 1. Pretreatment steps of EF

EFBs were squeezed using the screw
shredding and cutting before the smaller sh
were sent to the Kinetic Disintegratio
Micronex
TM
) plant as shown in Fig. 2. T
facility at Sawipac Malaysia Sdn. Bhd.
First American Scientific Corporation (
reduction machine and operates at 1 ton
Random EFB length sizes before treatme
and cutting were measured using rulers
EFB fibre lengths after KDS can be contro
the revolution per minute (RPM) set and fi
t more difficult to
ver, there is higher
se such as activated
resort to proper
prior to being used
d using screw press
ed by shredding. A
ep in treating the
process. With the
d be sustainable by
mass produced from
ous sources in the
m oil visits in the
eatment procedural
ollected from palm
were performed in
hd., Kluang, Johor,
s of EFB supplies
ere transported to
nducted at Sawipac
a duration of two
arried out usually
k. The frequency of
the availability of
mills nearby. The
in Figure 1.
FB
press followed by
hredded EFB fibres
on System (KDS
The patented KDS
was introduced by
(FASC) as a size
nne/hr on average.
ent, after shredding
up to 1mm. The
olled depending on
ibre length of up to
1mm can be achieved. This w
impeller on the fibres and com
very small pieces by kinetic
energy. The released heat ener
the drying of the smaller pieces


Fig. 2: An Overview of

PPF and PKS do not need to
in the screw press followed b
their sizes are small enough t
These two types of biomass
reduction in the KDS.
Experiments on moisture c
with different sizes were also pe
Each palm biomass sample of
between 15 20 g for smalle
samples for larger EFB sampl
and dried in an oven at the t
minutes. After cooling for 3
weighed again. This step is
constant. The moisture conten
expressed as a percentage loss i
weight using the equation;

Hoisturc contcnt =
where,
W
0
is the weight of palm bioma
W
1
is the weight of palm bioma

Three different palm biomas
and PKS were used in the exp
The experimental data on moi
the different sizes of palm biom
correlations relating palm biom
were generated. The net energ
using these data. The calorific
matter were based on those dat
20108 kJ/kg for PKS and
methodology is summarise in th
3.








was done by impacting a steel
mpletely breaking into lots of
c energy and releasing heat
rgy simultaneously speeds up
of biomass.

f the KDS Micronex
tm

o go through the first two steps
y the shredder + cutter since
o be sent directly to a KDS.
undergo further finer size
content of the palm biomass
erformed in Sawipac Sdn Bhd.
f various sizes were weighed
er size samples and 200-500g
es using a weighing balance
temperature of 103C for 30
30 minutes, the sample was
repeated until the weight is
nt of the test specimen was
in weight of the final oven-dry
w
c
-w
1
w
1
1uu% (1)

ass before drying,
ass after drying.
ss samples namely EFB, PPF
periment on moisture content.
sture loss were correlated for
mass (EFB, PPF and PKS). The
mass sizes to calorific value
gy availability were simulated
c values for the dry biomass
ta in [7]; 19068 kJ/kg for PPF,
18838 kJ/kg. The overall
he flow diagram shown in Fig.



























Fig. 3. Overall Flow Chart of the Study

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The basic data on typical palm biomass produced from palm
oil mills were collected from various sources in the literature
[2] and [3]. The basic information on moisture content, the
annual capacity as well as the potential Low Heating Value
(LHV) in PJ (10
15
J) of the various components of biomass [4]
is simplified and reproduce as shown in Table 1.
TABLE 1
ENERGY POTENTIAL IN PALM BIOMASS [4]
(LHV = LOWER HEATING VALUE)
Product volume
Types
of palm
biomass
Abr Moisture
content
%
Fraction
of FFB
Product
000
ton/yr
Potential
LHV PJ/yr
Fresh
fruit
bunches
FFB 50.5 100.0 67610 840
Empty
fruit
bunches
EFB 67.0 21.1 14293 61
Palm
press
fibre
PPF 37.0 12.7 8600 95
Palm
kernel
shell
PKS 12.0 12.0 3833 66
The typical fibre length observed and measured during
this study is as shown in Table 2. PPF which is the mesocarp
fibre has much shorter and finer fibres compared to EFB. In
the palm oil mills, the mesocarp fibre has undergone
squeezing in the screw press to extract CPO; in some mills,
the mesocarp fibre undergo double pressing to ensure high oil
extraction. The PKS biomass being crushed shells are
compact and of higher density in comparison to its fibrous
counterparts; PPF and EFB. Fig. 4 shows the PKS and PPF
samples from palm oil mills before undergoing size reduction
in KDS.
TABLE 2
LENGTH OF PALM BIOMASS FIBRES MEASURED IN
THIS STUDY
Treatment

EFB length
(mm)

PPF length
(mm)
PKS
(mm)
Raw biomass

100 - 150 1.0 3.0

0.5 2.0
Squeezing,
shredding +
cutting


50 - 75

KDS

5 - 25 < 1

< 1



Fig. 4 PKS and PPF [4]

The focus of this study is ensuring that EFB which forms
biomass bulk being utilised effectively as an energy source.
EFBs are bulky and if it is not processed and utilised within
the palm oil mill vicinity would incur a huge transportation
cost. Some palm oil mills have resorted to distributing the
EFBs to naturally decompose in the nearby palm oil
plantations.
The utilisation of EFB as an energy source requires
additional pre-treatment processes such as squeezing and
shredding + cutting, followed by further size reduction. These
additional processing steps would mean additional cost in
utilising the EFB. To further overcome additional
transportation cost in pre-treating the EFB, pre-treatment
should be done within the vicinity of palm oil mills. If
through these pre-treatment steps, the added value can
overcome these costs, then the alternative utilisation would be
attractive.
Moisture content in palm biomass sample is very much
related to the biomass size. Table 3 shows a sample of
experimental recordings conducted in the Sawipac Malaysia
Sdn. Bhd. on EFB fibres that has undergone some form of
pre-treatment. The supplies during this particular recording
came from two different palm oil mills referred to as SW and
KOP from the Kluang, Johor area. The pilot plant
experiments using the facilities in Sawipac Malaysia Sdn.
Bhd. has to take into account of the variations due to the feed
EFB availability, capacity and mainly on the weather
conditions. Basically, wet weather hinders supply and
degrades EFB rapidly apart from causing the samples soaked
wet. For this particular batch of experiments, the supplies
were restricted to 12 experiments from 23 February to 27
March, 2006. The variation of EFB supplies varies between
98 - 10,833 kg/hr during the course of the experiments.

Start
Literature
review
Plant Visits &
Data Collection
Moisture content
tests
Untreated
palm biomass
EFB, PPF and
PKS
Reduced sizes of palm
biomass, EFB, PPF and
PKS

Optimization of Palm
Biomass Blends
Pretreatment &
size reduction
Data
Analysis
Validation with Plant
Data
TABLE 3
EXAMPLE OF FEED RATES AND MOISTURE CONTENT RECORDED
FOR EFB FOR ONE PARTICULAR BATCH OF EXPERIMENT

Source
Mill
Fibre
length
mm
Moisture
Loss %
Final
Moisture %
Mass Flow
kg/hr
SW 5 14.41 39.64 153.73
KOP 5 - - 271.74
SW 20 7.6 41.58 321.74
KOP 20 - - 10,833.33
SW 30 5.7 48.02 125.00
SW 30 5.1 46.17 107.94
SW 30 6.79 40.23 2,500.00
KOP 30 -- - 98.04
KOP 40 5 53 400.00
SW 40 7 51 400.00
SW 40 5 43 3,400.00
KOP 40 - - 1,100.00

It can be observed for this particular batch of samples, the
final moisture content of EFB is around 40 % wt./wt., and it
does not vary much for EFBs fibre length between 5 30 mm.
One would expect that the lower mass flow of EFBs would
give a lower final moisture content, however, this is not
observed in this study. This is due to the weather conditions
which has affected the initial moisture contents of the EFBs.
Therefore, it is suggested that EFBs to be used as fuel source
should be treated immediately in the palm oil mill and not
exposed to wet weather conditions.
Figure 5 indicated that moisture loss % increases as the
fibre size in EFB reduces. The final moisture content %
within the EFB fibres reduces linearly as the fibre length
decreases.


Fig. 5 Moisture Loss % and Final Moisture Content % in EFB
of Various Lengths

From the moisture experiment, it was indicated that initial
EFB moisture ranged from 58-47 % moisture with an average
of 52.4 % and standard deviation of 4.3%. However, as the
EFB length size reduces the moisture loss increases
significantly up to 40% moisture for an EFB length of 20 mm.
Further fibre length reduction occurs in the KDS. Regression
analysis was conducted to correlate EFB Final moisture and
moisture loss % (Initial moisture % - Final moisture %) with
fibre length. The logarithmic regression equation and
correlation fit is:

y = - 4.28ln(x) + 20.93, (2)
where,
y is the moisture loss %
x is the length of fibres for EFB
Final moisture content % loss was also correlated with
size based on the experimental data. The linear regression
equation and correlation fit is:

y = 0.283x + 36.99 (3)
where,
y is the final moisture content %
x is the length of fibres for EFB

The average raw EFB moisture content is 65 % from the
mills. This is due to the moisture trapped by the air voids
between the fibres. It is estimated in this study that 15%
moisture by weight of EFB may be attributed to trapped air
voids in the fibres. It can be observed in the oven drying
experiment that long fibres of EFB folded on drying. Raw
EFB takes longer time to dry and are highly intertwined
which constrained the moisture drop significantly during
drying. Long fibre length of EFB will bend and looped which
traps air and prevents moisture from evaporating efficiently
during drying. From Fig. 5, the moisture loss % is drastic
after the fibre length of 20 mm, it may be deduced from the
findings here that any excess moisture above 20 mm length
must be due to the moisture trapped by air voids between the
fibres. The mass of moisture trapped by the air voids is
dependent on the humidity, temperature and amount of
exposure to moisture ie. higher due to rain in wet season.
In the processing terms, it is vital to evacuate the air from
the EFB fibres prior to drying. Then drying is applied more
directly and efficiently to the EFB fibres rather than
overcoming the moisture laden air voids and fibre surface air
boundary layers.
Based on the initial estimates of calorific values for the
various raw forms of palm biomass [2], the experimental data
on moisture content % are correlated to the calorific values
(kJ/kg) for EFB, PPF (fibre) and PKS (shell) as shown in Fig.
6. It can be shown that the calorific values are correlated to
the moisture content % though logarithmic equations as
follows:
for PKS
y = - 2344ln(x) +12286 (4)
for PPF
y = - 4487ln(x) +9195 (5)
and for EFB
y = - 3943ln(x) +7419.3 (6)
where,
y is the calorific value (kJ/kg)
x is the moisture content (% wt./wt.)
In general calorific values are above 15000 kJ/kg for dry
palm biomass with PKS having highest calorific values over
20000 kJ/kg, followed by PPF and EFB fibres.

Moisture Loss
y = -4.28ln(x) + 20.93
R = 0.910
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
0
5
10
15
20
25
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Final Moisture
Content %
Moisture
Loss%
Sizes, mm
Final Moisture
y = 0.283x+36.99


Fig. 6 Calorifc Values (kJ/kg) versus Moisture Content (% wt./wt.)
for palm biomass
The correlations generated through this study were used to
simulate the potential available energy using different blends
of palm biomass. The simulation of palm biomass blend and
calorific value is done using a spreadsheet. The simulation
and optimization is crucial since the demand for the specific
palm biomass varies depending on the demand and season.
Usually, EFB are available in abundance whereas PKS is
relatively of highly in demand due to the higher calorific
value and also widely used as activated carbon source. The
simulation of the palm biomass blends would be able to
estimate the required amount of feed for the specified energy
output required.
Table 4 shows the generated calorific values for different
types of palm biomass blends based on 100 tons dry weight.
Assuming a typical palm oil mill would use EFB of 100 mm
fibre length as its fuel, the maximum calorific value possible
for such plant would be 8617.5 kJ/kg. The calorific value
calculated is much lower than the calorific value for EFB dry
matter (18838 kJ/kg) since the calculation for the fuel feed
has to take into account energy required to vaporise moisture
from the biomass. The simulation gives the Net Energy
Available for a palm oil mill using such feed for its power
generation. However, if the mill further treated its palm
biomass, it is possible to increase its Net Energy Availability
as indicated by Table 3. The calorific value of treated palm
biomass in general is between 12 14 MJ/kg which
approaches half of coal and a third of the fuel oil [2].
The simulation indicates that the biomass feed would be
huge for palm biomass blends A and B with high moisture
content. As the moisture content reduces, the biomass weights
would also reduce, but the calorific values (kJ/kg) increases.
This also increases the Net Energy Available for that fuel
blend. The Net Energy Available is calculated as follows:

Nct Encrgy A:oiloblc =
C
1
-C
0
C
0
1 (7)


where,
C
1
is the final calorific value (kJ/kg) of the palm biomass
blend based on 100 tons dry weight,
C
0
is the calorific value (kJ/kg) of the palm biomass based on
100 tons dry weight EFB of length 100 mm

TABLE 4
PALM BIOMASS BLEND AND NET ENERGY AVAILABLE
Fuel
Blend
Biomass
composition
Total
biomass
('000 kg)
Water
('000
kg)
Total
Calorific
Value
(MJ)
Calorific
Value
(kJ/kg)
%
increase
in Net
Energy
Available
A
100%
EFB
(100mm) 400.0 300.0 3447.0 8617.5 basis
B
50% EFB
(100mm)
+
50%EFB
(50mm) 325.0 225.0 3200.1 9846.3 12.5
C
50% PPF
(5mm)+
50%EFB
(50mm) 208.3 108.3 2485.3 11931.5 27.8
D
25% PPF
(5mm)+
25%PKS
(5mm)+
50%EFB
(50mm) 208.3 108.3 2493.7 11971.7 28.0
E
25% PKS
(1mm)+
25%PPF
(5mm)+
50%EFB
(20mm) 175.0 75.0 2379.9 13599.5 36.6

It is possible to predict the calorific values and hence the
Net Energy Available for a given palm biomass blends.
Excess palm biomass that has undergone size reduction and
grounded (for PKS) can be further compacted and pelletised
as an energy source. Apart from increasing the calorific value,
the ease of handling will reduce cost of transportation and the
pelletised fuel source can be used anywhere when needed.
The potential use of palm biomass for briquettes is discussed
in [7]. The three different types of palm biomass EFB, PPF
and PKS has different calorific values. Sometimes the
demand for a particular material for other use especially for
PKS is higher than those for EFB. In order to sustain a
constant energy output, the knowledge of the variable blends
in this case is crucial.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
The study indicates that calorific value of palm biomass
increases (kJ/kg) if the sample undergo further treatment
which includes squeezing, shredding + cutting and finer size
reduction for EFB. The moisture experiment suggest that
fibre length of below 20 mm for EFB would drastically
reduce moisture content which is trap within the air voids of
the fibres. The calorific values of PPF and PKS is also
improved through size reduction. Pretreatment of palm
biomass as boiler feed through size reduction is crucial in
improving net energy availability. It has been shown through
this work that optimized palm biomass blend is capable of
increasing the net energy availability up to 40 %. EFB can be
a potential energy source if proper pre-treatment is done.


y = -4487ln(x) + 9195
R = 0.984
y = -2344ln(x) + 12286
R = 0.623
y = -3943ln(x) + 7419.
R = 0.903
5000
10000
15000
20000
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
C
a
l
o
r
i
f
i
c

V
a
l
u
e

(
k
J
/
k
g
)
Moisture content (% wt/wt)
Fibre 0
Shell 0
EFB 0
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank Sawipac Malaysia Sdn.
Bhd. for collaborating and providing the necessary funding
and facilities in this project.
NOMENCLATURE
C
1
final calorific value (kJ/kg) of the palm biomass blend based on
100 tons dry weight,
C
0
calorific value (kJ/kg) of the palm biomass based on 100 tons dry
weight EFB of length 100 mm
CPO crude palm oil
CPKO crude palm kernel oil
EFB empty fruit bunches
FFB fresh fruit bunches
KDS Kinetic Disintegration System
LHV Low Heating Value
PPF palm press fibre
PKS palm kernel shell
RPM revolution per minute
W
0 weight of palm biomass before drying
W1 weight of palm biomass after drying

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24 (2003) 117 124.
[3] Integrated Resource Planning Unit, A report prepared under the
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Fruit Bunch) as Renewable Fuel, 2006.
[4] Integrated Resource Planning Unit, Anders Evald et. al., A report
prepared under the Malaysian - Danish Environmental Cooperation
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Renewable Energy Resources, 2005.
[5] A report prepared under the Malaysian - Danish Environmental
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[6] Sumiani Yusoff, Renewable energy from palm oil innovation on
effective utilization of waste, Journal of Cleaner Production 14 (2006)
87-93.
[7] A.B.Nasrin, A.N.Ma, Y.M.Choo, S.Mohamad, H.Rohaya, A.Azali
and Z.Zainal, Oil Palm Biomass As Potential Substitution Raw
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Journal of Applied Sciences, 2008, 5 (3): 179-183