| Abstract |
Production of charcoal with a high higher heating value (HHV) while
maintaining low gaseous emission
requires high energy input and complicated methods. This innovation relates
to the production of
charcoal with high HHV and low gaseous emission from palm kernel shell
(PKS) within a microwaveassisted
pre-carbonisation system. The maximum temperature was 300 oC, and
three magnetrons
were employed to assist with the pre-carbonisation process. The
magnetrons were programmed to
automatically shut down when the temperature reached 250 oC.
Carbonisation took place when the PKS
was combusted and the resulting heat was used to sustain the
carbonisation. The gaseous emission was
passed through a condensation unit and a scrubber system connected to
the microwave reactor. Untreated
PKS biomass with particle size of 6e15 mm was used in this study. A high
HHV of 27.63 MJ/kg
was obtained. The concentrations for the particulate matter with a size of 10
mm and below (PM10), CO,
NO2, SO2 and HCl were below the standard limits set by the Malaysian
Ambient Air Quality Standards
(2014). Therefore, the microwave-assisted pre-carbonisation technology
proposed in this study produced
charcoal with high HHV and low gaseous emission which can be used as co-
combustion for renewable
energy generation |