Influence of pretreated coconut shell on gasification product yield

¹ Faculty of Civil Engineering & Technology, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Perlis, Malaysia
² Water Research and Environmental Sustainability Growth (WAREG), Center of Excellence (COE), Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), Perlis, Malaysia
³ Faculty of Electronic Engineering Technology, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Pauh Putra Campus, Perlis, Malaysia
⁴ Sustainable Environment Research Group (SERG), Center of Excellence Geopolymer and Green Technology, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Perlis, Malaysia
⁵ Faculty of Applied Science, Universiti Teknologi Mara, Campus Arau, Perlis, Malaysia.

^* Corresponding author: razi@unimap.edu.my

Abstract

Gasification of untreated and pretreated coconut shell (CS) was carried out in a fixed-bed reactor to assess the effect of temperature (600, 650, 700, 750, and 800 °C) and holding time (30 and 40 min) on gases composition. The untreated CS was first torrefied in a fixed-bed reactor at different temperatures (200 – 300 °C) and holding times (30 min, 60 min and 90 min). Pretreated CS at the optimal torrefaction temperature (275 °C and 60 min) was used for gasification. Under optimal conditions of 750 °C and 30 min holding time, gasification contributed the most gas production. At this optimum condition, the gas composition of pretreated CS was 35.03 % of CH₄, 24.43 % of CO₂, and 40.54 % of H₂ + CO. Untreated CS contains 37.63 % of CH₄, 24.03 % of CO₂, and 38.34 % of H₂ + CO gases. The production of CH₄ gas was higher when untreated CS was used for gasification rather than pretreated CS. Moreover, when untreated CS was used for gasification, the amount of CO₂, H2, and CO produced was minimal. Therefore, for high H2 production, pretreatment prior to gasification is appropriate.