Pyrolytic conversion of spent palm fruit bunches into bio-fuels

The threat which the disposal of spent palm fruit bunches constitutes to communities in oil palm processing communities in Nigeria coupled with the current global interest in alternative energy are the motivation for this work. An existing design of pyrolytic reactor consisting of a reactor unit, condensate receiver, copper pipe connectors and gas receiver was modified and adapted for converting spent palm fruit bunches into bio-fuels. The average char yield was 44.9 %, and the percentage Of feedstock converted into pyro-gas and tar oil was 55.1 0/6. The char yield decreased gradually as temperature was increased from 300-7000C. Char yield was highest (39.78 %) when the temperature was 3000C and the lowest char yield was 25.05 % at 700 •C and the calorific values of char ranged between 21.12 and 23.76 MJkg•l. This work presents the of generating energy from pyrolysed Spent palm Fruit Bunches (SPFB), it abates the disposal problem that SPFB constitutes in the Oil palm industry.