MATEC Web of Conferences 225, 01008 (2018)

https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201822501008
UTP-UMP-VIT SES 2018

Thermochemical Characterization of Oil Palm

Fronds, Coconut Shells, and Wood as A Fuel For
Heat and Power Generation
Muddasser Inayat1,*, Shaharin A. Sulaiman1, and Muhammad Yasin Naz2
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610 Bandar Seri
Iskandar, Perak Darul Ridzuan, Malaysia
2Department of Physics, University of Agriculture, 38040 Faisalabad, Pakistan

Abstract. This study investigated the thermochemical characterization of

oil palm fronds (OPF), coconut shells (CS) and wood for their use as a solid
fuel for thermal conversion processes. The ultimate analysis, proximate
analysis, calorific values, and elemental contents through energy dispersive
X-ray spectroscopy of OPF, CS, and wood samples were measured. The
results of OPF and CS were compared with wood considered as benchmark
solid fuel. Proximate analysis was performed as per ASTM standard
procedure in a muffle furnace and used thermos-gravimetric analysis
technique. The ultimate analysis was used to determine the weight
percentage of carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen in CHNS analyzer. Elements
analysis was done using energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The ultimate
analysis results show carbon content was higher in CS as compared to OPF
and wood. The hydrogen content was higher in OPF. Proximate analysis
results revealed that volatile matter was higher in wood, whereas fixed
carbon and higher heating value were found higher in CS while ash content
was lower in CS. From EDX results found that the OPF has Al, Si, Cl, and
K, while, in wood and CS these elements are absent. The thermochemical
characterization results of OPF and CS were comparable with the wood.
Therefore, it concluded that OPF and CS have the potential to be used as
renewable energy source by using appropriate energy conversion
technologies, such as gasification, pyrolysis, and torrefaction.

1 Introduction
World’s industrial and commercial activities result in a rapid increase in energy demand day
by day, limited fossil fuels resources, and their high rate of pollutant emissions are serious
problems of the 21st century [1, 2]. The bioenergy is a renewable, sustainable and
environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels. Currently, biomass conversion processes
have emerged as a rapidly growing field of science and technology endeavored to fulfill ever-
growing energy demand [3, 4]. Biomass is normally obtained from green plants that convert
sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water into energy via photosynthesis. The nature of biomass
considered as organic because the sunlight energy stored in the plants in the form of chemical

*
Corresponding author: [email protected]

© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
MATEC Web of Conferences 225, 01008 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201822501008
UTP-UMP-VIT SES 2018

bonding energy. This chemical bonding of biomass can be broken down using different
thermochemical techniques such as combustion, pyrolysis, and gasification [5].
Malaysian agricultural sector contributes the huge amount of biomass resources.
However, palm oil wastes contribute the largest source of biomass in Malaysia with
approximate 4.5 million hectares plantation area at 5% annual growth [6]. There are two
sources of palm oil waste one at generates at plantation site during harvesting (oil palm fronds
(OPF)) and other produces during oil extraction process at the factory (empty fruit brunch
(EFB), palm kernel shell (PKS), palm oil mill effluent (POME), and mesocarp fiber). On an
average one hectare of palm oil plantation can generate 50-70 tonnes of biomass residues [6,
7]. Nearly all type of biomasses produced during the oil extraction process are commercially
utilized, mainly in energy and manufacturing sectors. Nevertheless, oil palm fronds (OPF)
have very limited usage. Oil palm trees are pruned during the harvesting of fresh fruit bunches
to produce oil. The fronds are pruned regularly but have little use and are mainly left on the
ground in a huge quantity for the slow process of natural decomposition. It mainly consists
of the hard and fibrous petiole and the leaflets. The average bulk density of OPF was reported
to be about 700 kg/m3 and the weight of each frond is between 15 and 20 kg depending on
the age of the palm tree [8]. Similarly, to oil palm, coconut is also belong to palm family and
it is another industrial crop in Malaysia, which is the third biggest in plantation area size.
Basically, coconut is a source of edible oil and coconut milk, which is the main ingredient of
most of Malaysian foods. In 2009, the total domestic coconut production was about 459,000
tons. From coconut processing, coconut husk (0.166 Mton), coconut shell (0.735 Mton),
coconut frond (0.103 Mton) and coconut empty bunches (0.022 Mton) are obtained as a by-
products [9]. These potential biomasses can be utilized for heat and power generation via
different thermochemical process.
Another big source of biomass supply in Malaysia is forest and timber processing
factories. These timber factories and woodland are considered as one of the major
unexploited biomass sources in Malaysia. The wood waste generated during the logging
operation is 5.1 million m3 in form of stumps, branches, bark, tops, broken logs, defective
logs and injured standing trees, all these are 43% of total volume of the tree [9]. About 70-
75% of the global wood harvest is either used or potentially available as a renewable energy
source [10]. Therefore, the wood base lignocellulosic biomass materials are considered as a
potential source of energy in the Malaysian context, which could be exploited by
thermochemical conversion process [9].
In this paper, thermochemical properties of oil palm fronds, coconut shells, and wood
examined, and results of oil palm fronds and coconut shells are compared with wood
considered it as a benchmark biomass, for various thermal conversion process such as
pyrolysis, torrefaction, gasification and as well as for general incineration purposes.

2 Methodology

2.1 Collection and preparation of feedstock

Freshly pruned oil palm fronds (Elaeis guineensis) were collected from the FELCRA palm
oil plantation site in Bota Kanan, approximately 220 km to the Northwest of Kuala Lumpur.
At the plantation site, the leaflets were removed from OPF with a machete, divided it into
three to four petioles with approximate sizes of 0.75 to 1.0 m long intended for ease in
handling and transportation of OPF from the plantation site to the laboratory. Wood (acacia
mangium) was collected from the landscape area within the campus of Universiti Teknologi
PETRONAS, which was made available during the annual tree trimming activities. Wood
logs diameter varied from 4 cm to 20 cm with an approximate length of 0.75 to 1.0 m. The

2
MATEC Web of Conferences 225, 01008 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201822501008
UTP-UMP-VIT SES 2018

third feedstock is coconut shells, scientifically known as Cocos nucifera L. Coconut shell is
a by-product of coconut milk processing industries. Sufficient amounts of coconut shells are
available at grocery stores that make coconut milk from fresh copra. Coconut shells for the
present study were collected from grocery stores nearby Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS.
The leaflets of the fronds and outer fiber of the coconut shells were removed and were then
ground and sieved to 250 μm particles for feedstock characterization. The ultimate analysis
was determined by using CHNS analyzer, Leco CHNS-932 model. According to ASTM
D3176-09 standard procedure [11]. Moisture content, volatile matter, ash content were
determined by ASTM E871-82 [12], ASTM E872-82 [13], and ASTM E1755-01 [14]
respectively. The fixed carbon content was found from outstanding mass after the release of
volatiles excluding the ash and moisture contents [15]. The calorific values were determined
in the Leco AC-350 automatic bomb calorimeter by ASTM D4809-00 standard procedure
[16]. A SUPRA 55VP model FESEM analyzer in combination with EDX was used examine
the surface morphology and desired elements present in samples at nanometer scale.

3 Characterization results of biomass feedstock

Characterization of biomass materials includes ultimate and proximate analysis, heating
value and element analysis. The ultimate analysis is an important factor to assess the
properties of fuels like percentages of N and S, which concern with the environmental impact
of biomass. Additionally, it helps to calculate the percentage of C, H, and O of biomass
materials. On the other hand, proximate analysis is an essential way to understand the
gasification phenomenon of biomass materials, while a heating value portrays the amount of
energy released by the unit mass of solid biomass, which shows its potential as bio-fuels.
Moreover, element analysis presents the inorganic elements like potassium, sodium, chlorine,
and silicon in biomass materials.

3.1 Ultimate analysis

Ultimate analysis is important in determining the basic composition of a feedstock to know
the suitability of the feedstock for energy production [17]. Table 1 shows the results of
ultimate and proximate analysis of processed (dried, ground and sieved) feedstock of wood,
coconut shells and OPF feedstock on weight percentage. The carbon content of coconut shell
was high at 46.93% (by weight) as compared to other biomass materials (wood and OPF).
The high carbon content implies a good potential of coconut shell to utilize as feedstock. OPF
has high hydrogen content at 5.71%, which is associated with the strong domination of water
gas reaction. Lower nitrogen (0.42%) and sulphur (0.16%) contents in the OPF and wood,
respectively, lower contents of these elements in fuel portray that fuel is eco-friendly. Lower
concentrations of sulphur and nitrogen yield lower oxides of these elements and its
derivatives emit in the open atmosphere. This will increase the potential of aforementioned
fuels as an environmental friendly renewable energy source. Based on ultimate analysis of
OPF and coconut shells are found that these feedstocks comparable with the woody biomass.
Table 1. Characteristics of processed wood, coconut shell and OPF
Ultimate Analysis (wt. %) Proximate Analysis (wt. %) HHV
Biomass MJ/k
C H O* N S MC VM FC* Ash
g
W 43.54 3.59 51.70 1.00 0.16 4.25 88.07 10.61 1.32 17.53
CS 46.93 3.96 48.21 0.71 0.19 2.29 81.67 17.50 0.83 19.43
OPF 42.60 5.71 51.00 0.42 0.29 6.15 80.55 16.43 3.02 17.00
W; Wood (acacia mangium), CS; Coconut Shells, OPF; Oil Palm Fronds. * On difference basis

3
MATEC Web of Conferences 225, 01008 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201822501008
UTP-UMP-VIT SES 2018

3.2 Proximate analysis

The proximate analysis included moisture content, volatile matter, fixed carbon and ash
content on the weight basis. Processed OPF has high moisture content 6.15%, followed by
wood 4.25% and coconut shell 2.29% on a wet basis. As shown in Fig. 2c, OPF has porous
structure and it has an intensity to absorb moisture from the surrounding atmosphere.
Therefore, it is very hard to keep moisture level at the lower side, due to the hygroscopic
nature of OPF. Similarly, wood also has same, as OPF to some extent, but wood is harder,
denser and less porous as compared to the OPF as shown in Fig. 2a, thus it has a lower
intensity of moisture absorption. On the other hand, coconut shell has a denser, harder, brittle
and packed structure as compared to other biomass materials (wood and OPF) as shown in
Fig. 2b. Therefore, it has less potential to absorb the moisture from surrounding due to its
morphological aspects. Plant-based biomass contains high volatile matter and low fixed
carbon [18]. Similarly, a current proximate analysis result of wood has high volatile matters
88.07%, followed by coconut shell 81.67% and OPF 80.55%. These biomass materials have
more than 80% volatile matters, which produce high gas yield and lower char. A lower ash
content of biomass is a mark of good quality fuel. Coconut shells have a low ash content of
0.83%, followed by wood and OPF. OPF contained maximum 3.02% ash content by weight
percentage.
The function of thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) is to categorize the devolatilization
characteristics or weight loss of the feedstock sample with temperature is shown in Fig. 1.
TGA technique is also used for characterizing proximate analysis in which weight loss is
measured against the increasing temperature. First weight loss phase represents the moisture
loss at temperature around 100°C. The second large continuous decreasing section represents
the removal of volatile matter. While at the end of second last phase, a sharp decreasing slope
shows the depletion of fixed carbon, at the end of weight loss curve, become almost the
horizontal line represents the amount of unburned residual called ash content.
100
MC Weight % (Wood)
90 Weight % (OPF)
Weight % (CS)
80
Percentage of weight loss

70

60

50 VM
40

30

20

10 FC
0 Ash
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
Temperature (ºC)

Fig. 1. Percentage weight loss of OPF, CS, and wood with temperature
The proximate analysis of wood, coconut shells and OPF, which is determined by ASTM
methods, is shown in Table 1. In the proximate analysis, which is determined by ASTM
standard procedure and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), both results have a good
agreement in terms of volatile matters and ash contents. The differences in results of volatile

4
MATEC Web of Conferences 225, 01008 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201822501008
UTP-UMP-VIT SES 2018

matters determined by ASTM, from TGA results are 2.24%, 5.67% and 1.12% for wood,
coconut shells and OPF, respectively. Whereas, the difference in fixed carbon from ASTM
and TGA results are 4.21%, 1.17% and 6.1% for wood, coconut shells and OPF, respectively.
The volatile matter content of the feedstock determined by TGA is slightly lower than the
ASTM value. This might be caused by high temperature of ASTM procedure, which
enhances the conversion from the solid phase to the gaseous phase. Fixed carbon of coconut
shell has a high value of 17.50% among other feedstock followed by OPF 16.42% and wood
10.61%. In the ASTM standard procedure, fixed carbon is determined on a difference basis
while, in TGA, fixed carbon is determined by the weight loss against temperature increase.
Higher heating values (HHV) of coconut shell was 19.43 MJ/kg of HHV followed by wood
17.53 MJ/kg and OPF 17.00 MJ/kg. Wood and OPF HHV values are close to each other
while, the coconut shell has a higher value.

3.4 Elemental analysis

The images obtained from FESEM shown in Fig. 2. The major elements of feedstock on
weight percentage and atomic percentage, which are analyzed on the spectrum surface by
using EDX, shown in Table 2. The values of carbon and oxygen contents from ultimate
analysis results are lower than EDX analysis. The reason of this difference is that EDX is
unable to detect hydrogen and nitrogen contents, which could be resultant higher carbon and
oxygen contents during EDX analysis. Inorganic elements as shown in Table .2, only OPF
has Al, Si, Cl, and K, while, in the wood and coconut shell these elements are absent. In
fibrous part of OPF have 1.89% Cl and 2.36% K on a weight basis, whereas outer skin of
OPF contained Si, Al, Cl, and K as 4.13%, 1.18%, 1.41% and 0.90% on a weight basis,
respectively, while K in feedstock mainly contributed as catalytic effect. The presence of Cl
and K elements in the OPF feedstock is probably due to the application of a chemical
(KCl and K2O) fertilizer at the fertilization stage of the oil palm tree.
Table 2. Elemental compositions of wood, coconut, OPF fiber and OPF skin obtained from EDX
analysis
Ele Wood Coconut Shells OPF (Fibre) OPF (Skin)
men Weight Atomic Weight Atomic Weight Atomic Weight Atomic
ts (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%)
C 55.72 62.63 54.91 61.86 39.58 47.62 53.08 61.99
O 44.28 37.37 45.09 38.14 56.17 50.74 39.31 34.46
Al - - - - - - 1.18 0.61
Si - - - - - - 4.13 2.06
Cl - - - - 1.89 0.77 1.41 0.56
K - - - - 2.36 0.87 0.90 0.32

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 2. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) image of (a) wood, (b) coconut shell,
and (c) OPF fiber at 50X magnification

5
MATEC Web of Conferences 225, 01008 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201822501008
UTP-UMP-VIT SES 2018

4. Conclusions (

This study investigated the thermochemical characterization of OPF, CS, and wood. The
results of OPF and CS were compared with wood. Carbon content was found higher in CS
as compared to other biomass whereas hydrogen content was higher in OPF. The volatile
matter was higher in wood, whereas fixed carbon and higher heating value were found higher
in CS while ash content was lower in CS. EDX results found that only OPF has Al, Si, Cl,
and K, while, in wood and CS these elements are absent. Characterization results of OPF and
CS are comparable with the wood. Therefore, it concludes that OPF and CS have the potential
to be used as renewable energy source by using appropriate energy conversion technologies,
such as gasification, pyrolysis, and torrefaction.
The authors would like to thank and acknowledge the Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Malaysia, for
financial and technical support for this work.

References
1. M. Inayat, S. A. Sulaiman, A. Kumar, and F. M. Guangul, JMES. 10, 2187-2199 (2016)
2. M. Inayat, S. A. Sulaiman, and K. Sanaullah, 4 th IET CEAT. 1-7 (2016)
3. S. A. Sulaiman, R. Roslan, M. Inayat, and M. Y. Naz, J. Energ. Inst. 91, 779-785 (2018)
4. S. A. Sulaiman, M. Inayat, H. Basri, F. M. Guangul, and S. M. Atnaw, JMES. 10, 2176-
2186 (2016)
5. P. McKendry, Bioresour. Technol. 83, 37-46 (2002)
6. S. M. Shafie, T. M. I. Mahlia, H. H. Masjuki, and A. Andriyana, Renew. Sust. Energ.
Rev. 15, 4370-4377 (2011)
7. M. S. Umar, P. Jennings, and T. Urmee, Renew. Energ. 60, 107-115 (2013)
8. S.A. Sulaiman, S. Balamohan, M.N.Z. Moni, S.M. Atnaw, and A. O. Mohamed, JEMS.
9, 1744-1757 (2015)
9. M. Inayat, S. A. Sulaiman, and J. C. Kurnia, MATEC Web Conf., 131, 03015 (2017)
10. M. Parikka, Biomass Bioenergy, 27, 613-620 (2004)
11. D3176-09 Standard Practice for Ultimate Analysis of Coal and Coke, ed. West
Conshohocken, ASTM International, (2009)
12. E871-82, Standard Test Method for Moisture Analysis of Particulate Wood Fuels, ed.
Pennsylvania, USA, ASTM International, (2006)
13. R. Habibi, J. Kopyscinski, M. S. Masnadi, J. Lam, J. R. Grace, C. A. Mims, and J. M.
Hill, Energy Fuels, 27, 494-500 (2013)
14. E1755-01, Standard Method for the Determination of Ash in Biomass, ed. Philadelphia,
USA, ASTM International, (2007)
15. P. Basu, Biomass Gasification, Pyrolysis, and Torrefaction Practical Design and
Theory, Second ed. USA, Elsevier’s Sci. Technol. (2013)
16. D4809-00, Standard Test Method for Heat of Combustion of Liquid Hydrocarbon Fuels
by Bomb Calorimeter, ed. Pennsylvania, USA, ASTM International, (2013)
17. S. A. Sulaiman, H. S. Bamufleh, S. N. A. Tamili, M. Inayat, and M. Y. Naz, Bull.
Chem. Soc. Ethpa. 30, 465-472 (2016)
18. R. Saidur, E. A. Abdelaziz, A. Demirbas, M. S. Hossain, and S. Mekhilef, Renew. Sust.
Energ. Rev. 15, 2262-2289 (2011)