A Study of Biomass Fuel Briquettes from Oil Palm Mill Residues

Malaysia as a major palm oil exporter, contributed about 51% of world’s palm oil production in 2010. In the same year, the size of Malaysia’s oil palm plantation stood at 4,691,160 hectares of land with 421 palm oil mills operating to process the fruits. In the process of extracting palm oil, large amount of waste was generated, consisting of 4.46 million tonnes palm kernel shell, 7.73 million tonnes mesocarp fibre and 21.34 million tonnes empty fruit bunches. In the loose form, the kernel shell and mesocarp fibre are used as boiler fuel to produce electricity and process steam for the power needs in the palm oil mill itself. Efforts have been made to increase the energy density of the loosely-bounded waste materials, in which solid fuel briquettes made of densified oil palm residues would contribute towards a more efficient utilization of the waste material. As part of the densification process, the waste material was pulverized and then compacted using a 200 kN force into 40 mm diameter briquettes. The heating values, proximate analysis, ultimate analysis and burning profile of the briquettes were studied. The end result was an optimised solid fuel with relatively high energy content made from a suitable mixing ratio of the different palm oil mill residues and an appropriate binder to ensure acceptable mechanical strength.