Kinetic study of torrefaction of oil palm shell, mesocarp and empty fruit bunch

The understanding of kinetic parameters and torrefaction mechanism is required for the design of the operational equipment for biomass torrefaction. This study presents the results from thermogravimetric analyses of oil palm shell (PS), mesocarp (MF) and empty fruit bunches (EFB) under inert atmosphere mimicking torrefaction. Torrefaction was studied isothermally within the range of 200–300 °C to analyze the kinetics of this process. The kinetic data were used to predict the torrefaction performance of all the three oil palm biomass using a two-stage decomposition mechanism that closely matches the experimental data. The activation energies corresponding to the first-stage reactions are 39.22, 28.61 and 60.47 kJ mol−1 for EFB, MF and PS, respectively. Activation energy for EFB is highest for the second-stage reactions at 35.18 kJ mol−1 followed by PS at 25.49 kJ mol−1 and MF at 25.49 kJ mol−1.