Technical Communication

TECB213

Group’s Name: i

Group Member’s Name and ID:

1. Khairul Anwar Bin Abu Bakar (EE082036)

2. Zulherry Bin Manarudin (ME082126)

3. Mahamud Saed Yasin (ME084671)

4. Isse Hassan (CE084664)

5. Muhammad Ismat Faris (EP084833)

Section: 6

Lecturer’s Name: Mr. Ng Yu Jin

Title:

Hydrogen ric h gas from oil palm biomass as a potential source of renewable energy in Malaysia

Hydrogenrich gas¿oil palmbiomassas a potential sourceof r enewable

energy∈Malaysia

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

The world’s energy consumption, for the transportation in dependent for the fossil fuels.This

lead is seriously effect in the environmental. The increasing energy demands will speed up to

exhaustion of the finite fossil fuel. Moreover combustion of fossil fuel produces substantial

greenhouse gases (GHG) and toxic gases such as CO2, CH4, SO2 and other pollutants, causing

global warming and acid rain. Progressive emission of GHG has been identified as the main

cause of global warming and the target is to limit global temperature rise. Since the closing of

the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, the United Nations Framework

Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has received submissions of national pledges to cut or

limit emissions of greenhouse gases by 2020 from 75 Parties, which together account for more

than 80% of global emissions from energy use). To achieve this, it is issue to develop suitable

long-term strategies based on especially to find a profitable or practical use for of renewable

fuel that would gradually substitute the declining fossil fuel production; the alternative fuel

must be technically feasible, economically competitive, associated with the environment and

readily available.

Biomass is one of the most abundant renewable resources; it is by fixing carbon dioxide in the

atmosphere during the process of plant photosynthesis and, therefore, it is carbon neutral in its

lifecycle. Biomass provides a clean, renewable energy source that could dramatically improve

the environment, economy and energy security. Annual global production of palm

oil waste amounts to 184 million tons. Are produced about 53 million tons

of waste palm oil annually in Malaysia alone, and increasing annually by 5%. Biodiesel is a liquid

fuel or gas to power stations and transport sectors, which are produced from renewable energy

sources such as biomass. Hydrogen was found to be well-suited for this purpose as it

is clean, high calorific value fuel. From the perspective of the above, and

research throughout the world and focus towards the hydrogen economy Hydrogen will

become a major energy resource in the future. As industrial Malaysia

Palm oil produced a huge amount of residues of palm oil for every year, there was more

interest in the use palm oil biomass of biofuel production, this review is focused on the

thermochemical conversion routes for hydrogen production based on biomass of oil palm, as it

more economical and practical, if hydrogen used as energy. Currently for hydrogen production

is other method such as natural gas reforming is the objective of petrochemical production,

but it does not pay for energy a brief introduction of the biomass of the palm oil in Malaysia is

presented followed by an examination of the effect of different types of catalyst on the

hydrogen yield from biomass.

1:2 statement of the problem

The huge amount of biomass readily available in abundance certainly guarantees its

sustainable supply allowing being continuous operation of the process yearlong with

this realization, thus the study of new and better method of production is processed

with the title as flowing.

Emission of greenhouse gasses progressive greenhouse gases (GHGS), including

generation plants have been identified as the main cause of global warming renewable

energy has attracted a lot of interest with the emergence of large of studies and

research produced annually.

Expert and policy makers widely agree that the reduction of calamite change’s greatest

threat mankind and a challenge for the 21st century and beyond about 80%of world

consumption of primary energy is still dependent on fuel.

1.3 Objective Of the study

The objective of this study is to examine the advantages of hydrogen rich gas from oil palm

biomass as a potential source of renewable energy in Malaysia , at the moment there is

increasing interesting concerning oil palm energy and is the most important to production in

hydrogen from biomass by catalytic routes there are thermo-chemical conversion technology

which can applied for hydrogen production from biomass .Can be directly related to the activity

of Dolomite Cao, the content of Fe203, pore Size and distribution. A major problem with the

use of dolomite is the deactivation due to carbon deposits and material that is soft and fragile,

however and dolomite cheap and easily replaceable. Has been published a large amount of

work in the field of cleaning hot gas from the gasification of biomass using nickel catalysts.

Nickel based catalysts are very effective for tar and removal of modify the composition of the

gas collection gas quality. Nickel can be additional, dolomite olivine significant improvement In

activity towards the conversion of consisting mainly of hydrocarbons to produce by the

destructive distillation of organic substances such as wood, coal, or peat.

1.4 Research Questions

How much hydrogen rich gas from oil palm biomass can we produce in Malaysia in a year?

What is the cost to produce one hydrogen rich gas energy generator?

Where is the area in Malaysia that is suitable to implement the project?

1.5 Significance of the Study

This study will be a significant endeavour in producing alternative energy in Malaysia besides

fuel and the combustion of charcoal. This study will also be beneficial to anyone who wants to

develop power generation of hydrogen rich gas from oil palm biomass in Malaysia. By

understanding the increasing demand of alternative energy in Malaysia, this study will help to

achieve it. This study will also guide anyone that is going to do the research in this area in

future. Moreover, this research will provide recommendations on how to evaluate the

practicality of implementing the project in Malaysia.

1.6 The Scope of the Report/Limitation of Study

As the world second largest producer and exporter of palm oil in 2006, Malaysia’s palm oil

industry leaves behind huge amount of biomass from its plantation and milling activity, way

much larger as compared to other types of biomass. Therefore biomass from oil palm industry

has potential to be converted to commercial products such as animal food, fertilizer and

absorbent. It can also be converted to bio-fuel such as bio-ethanol or can be used to generate

electricity.

Biomass has been a major source of energy in the world until before industrialization when

fossil fuels become dominant and researches have proven from time to time its viability for

large-scale production. Although there has been some successful industrial-scale production of

renewable energy from biomass, generally this industry still faces a lot of challenges including

the availability of economically viable technology, sophisticated and sustainable natural

resources management, and proper market strategies under competitive energy markets.

Amidst these challenges, the development and implementation of suitable policies by the local

policy-makers is still the single and most important factor that can determine a successful

utilization of renewable energy in a particular country. Ultimately, the race to the end line must

begin with the proof of biomass ability to sustain in a long run as a sustainable and reliable

source of renewable energy.

Thus, the scope of this report is to present the potentialavailability of oil palm biomass that can

be converted to hydrogen (leading candidate positioned as the energy of the millennium)

through gasification reaction in supercritical water, as a source of renewable energy to policy-

makers. Moreover, this represent the current scenario of biomass in Malaysia ranging from

issues related to availability of feedstock, biomass conversion technologies as well as present

status of oil palm industry in contributing towards sustainable and renewable energy.

1.7 Operational Definition

Biomass is any organic matter such as wood, crops, seaweed, animal wastes that can be used as

an energy source. Biomass is a renewableenergy source because its supplies are not limited

since we can always grow trees and crops, and waste will always exist (Secondary energy info

book, 2011).

Hydrogen (H2) is one of the simplest atoms in this earth that has one proton and one electron.

The energy content in hydrogen very high compared to other fuel and also a very light gas at

normal temperature and pressure. Hydrogen gas can be found only in compound form. For

example hydrogen combined with oxygen is water (H2O), combined with carbon it forms

organic compounds such as methane (CH4), coal, and petroleum. It is found in all growing things

(biomass). Hydrogen is also one of the most abundant elements in the Earth’s crust (Secondary

energy info book, 2011).

The main method to convert hydrogen from biomass is thermo-chemical.

There are three subheadings for producing hydrogen from biomass which are pyrolysis,

gasification and supercritical water gasification (SCWG).

1. Pyrolysis

Pyrolysis is conversion of biomass to liquid, solid and gaseous fractions by heating the

biomass in the absence of air at around 500 °C temperature. In addition to gaseous

product, pyrolysis produces a liquid product called bio-oil, which is the basis of several

processes for the development of the various energy fuels and chemicals.Firstly,

hydrogen can be produced by steam reforming of pyrolysis liquid obtained from the

pyrolysis of biomass. Secondly, the pyrolysis process is carried out around 700 °C and

including the removal of tar content of the gas and improving the quality of the product

gas (Kalinci, Hepbasli and Dincer, 2009).

2. Gasification

Gasification is the conversion of biomass into a combustible gas mixture via the partial

oxidation at high temperatures, typically varying from 800 to 900 °C.Biomass is

converted completely to CO and H2 although in practice some CO2, water and other

hydrocarbons including methane in an ideal gasification (Kalinci, Hepbasli and Dincer,

2009).

3. SCWG

The properties of water displayed beyond critical point plays a significant role for

chemical reactions, especially in the gasification process. When water reaches the

critical point (temperature >374 °C, pressure >22 MPa), the properties of both liquid

and gas become identical. Over the critical point, the properties of this supercritical

water (SCW) vary in between liquid-like or gas-like conditions. SCW is completely

miscible with organic substance as well as with gases (Kalinci, Hepbasli and Dincer,

2009).

Chapter 2: Review of Literature

INTRODUCTION

The search for renewable energy in Malaysia has led us to hydrogen rich gas from oil

palm biomass as a potential source. This report will be based on how this potential source can

be applied as renewable energy and what are the information needed I the process. This

research will show how efficient to hydrogen rich gas from oil palm biomass as a potential

source in Malaysia, the cost involved, the area that suitable to implement this project and other

relevant information. Fuel as main energy source is decreasing in amount and the need to

survive has made us realize that this study must be done to enhance the producing and using of

renewable energy. This research will justify the significance of hydrogen rich gas from oil palm

biomass as a potential source of renewable energy in Malaysia.

The body

The gas from oil palm biomass has been identified as, resource, sustainable renewable energy,

specifically countries with abundant agricultural activities, for instance, Malaysia is regarded as

world’s largest producer of palm oil in accordance of its production of huge quantities of palm

oil, as estimated in the year of 2004 Malaysia produced more than 25 million oil palm biomass

where by generating in the form of empty fruit bunch, shell, and fiber.

These biomasses are considered potential source of renewable energy that will get to be

exploited efficiently. So that exploiting and using these biomasses as renewable energy, will

have significant advantage in many aspects, for instance using this renewable energy will

minimize the constant dependency on fossil fuels, as well will cause reduction of net carbon

dioxide emissions which will have significant impact to the global effort of reducing global

warming.

However palm oil biomass renewable energy needs advanced technology that can enable in the

process of biomass conversion into biofuel efficiently as well economically.

There is Pilot project destined to do the job of conversion oil palm biomass into green fuel using

supercritical water technology , named as, PLANT PRODUCTION OF GREEN FUEL FROM PALM

OIL BIOMASS USING SUPERCRITICAL WATER TECHNOLOGY.

This pilot project is run by Malaysian Scientist as the aim of their research is to develop

Technology that converts oil palm biomass into green fuel using supercritical water technology;

they have great expectations of that technology which could convert oil palm biomass to green

fuel using supercritical water.

Efficient utilization of solid biomass, as well as to convert waste product (oil palm biomass) to a

product that has high commercial value (Green Fuel).

Reports have suggested potential route to convert biomass to biofuel such hydrogen (H2) and

bio oil (Viscos liquid containing hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen) could be performed via super

critical fluid technology.

Therefore supercritical fluid technology is a substance that is at conditions of temperature and

pressure that are above its vapor-liquid critical point, at the condition of supercritical fluid does

not meet the criteria of liquid because it can be made to boil by decreasing the pressure at

constant temperature, also it’s not vapor cooling at constant pressure could not cause to

condense.

Summary

However there’s still research that had been carried out for this project as for orchestrating

new Technology that has the potential ability to perform conversion of biomass into green fuel

has to be found. While the technology is made and ready for test it’s believed that that the

green fuel will significant impact to the dominated market of fossil fuel and will result

encourage and boost confidence to further innovations.

CONCLUSION

Nowadays, palm oil industries have become important industries in this country. Since there is

large growth in these industries, a lot of unwanted wastes been produced during the

production of oil palm. The main concern is to convert all of the unwanted wastes into useful

renewable energy. Based on analysis of other researcher founding, oil palm mill wastes can be

converted into solid bio-fuel and biogas that are very useful as a fuel in generating power or

electricity. These can reduce the consumption of fossil fuel and natural gas that has been used

since a long time ago. Besides that, all these types of renewable energy are environmental

friendly fuel since there are no greenhouse effects produced when using this fuel. Several

considerations need to be made in order to produce hydrogen gas from the oil palm waste.

Many experiments have been done in this field by other researcher and they have come out

with several methods in producing the hydrogen gas. However, more research and

development need to be done in enhancing the technologies of producing hydrogen gas from

biomass in order to get a fuel that has equal or better characteristic compare to natural gases.

References

The NEED project, 2011. Secondary energy infobook. Retrieved from

http://www.need.org/needpdf/infobook_activities/SecInfo/HydrogenS.pdf and

http://www.need.org/needpdf/infobook_activities/SecInfo/BiomassS.pdf

Kalinci, Y., Hepbalis, A. and Dincer, I. (2009).International Journal of Hydrogen Energy.Biomass

based hydrogen production: A review and analysis, 34(21). Retrieved from

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360319909013391#sec3.1.1

M.A.A. Mohammeda, A. Salmiatona, W.A.K.G. Wan Azlinaa, M.S. Mohammad Amrana, A.

Fakhru’l-Razia, Y.H. Taufiq-Yap. Volume 15, Issue 2, February (2011), Pages 1258-1270.

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. Retrieved from

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032110003436

K.Y.T. LEN. March (2009). Gasification Of Oil Palm Biomass In Hot Compressed

Water (HCW) For Production Of Synthesis Gas. Retrieved from

http://eprints.usm.my/10191/1/GASIFICATION_OF_OIL_PALM_BIOMASS_IN_HOT_COMPRESSE

D.pdf

M.Abdullah September (2006) PILOT PLANT PRODUCTION OF GREEN FUEL FROM PALM OIL

BIOMASS USING SUPERCRITICAL WATER TECHNOLOGY. Retrieved from

http://www.researchsea.com/html/article.php/aid/1020/cid/2?

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