Fast pyrolysis of empty fruit bunches

This short communication describes the evaluation of the fast pyrolysis behaviour of empty fruit bunches (EFB), one of the solid wastes of the rapidly expanding palm oil industry. A 150 g/h fluidised bed bench scale fast pyrolysis unit is used to study the impact of the following key variables; the reactor temperature in the range of 400-600 degrees C, the residence time in the range of 0.79-1.32 s, and a range of particle sizes (with percentage of ash content) obtained by sieving of <150 mu m (8.49%), 150-250 mu m (7.46%), 250-300 mu m (6.70%) and 355-500 mu m (4.83%). The results confirmed the shape of the yield curve for EFB and indicated the significant difference when comparing the literature values for yields with the results obtained in this study along with the systems being used. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.