Conversion of some oil palm biomasses via plasma-assisted pyrolysis

In this study, lab-scale plasma-assisted pyrolysis was conducted in order to convert some oil palm biomasses. An argon gas source was used to blow a plasma torch using a 900 W (12 V, 75 A) DC current source. Oil palm fronds (OPF), oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFB), oil palm trunks (OPT), and oil palm kernel shells (PKS) were among the oil palm biomasses utilized in this investigation. The plasma treatment was conducted for 8 minutes. This treatment produced solid products of plasma chars, which are dominated by carbon content. Raman spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) were used to examine plasma chars. The domination of sp2 hybridization in OPF, OPT, and PKS plasma chars was detected by Raman spectroscopy, while dominant sp3 hybridization was detected in EFB plasma char. Based on XRD characterizations, different crystal structure characteristics (trigonal, cubic, hexagonal, and amorphous) were detected in OPF, EFB, OPT, and PKS plasma chars. Based on TEM analysis, hexagonal structures were detected in OPF, OPT, and PKS plasma chars, while simple cubic structures were identified in EFB plasma char. The abundance of O-H bonds and a C=C bond was detected by FT-IR. Therefore, by integrating whole analyses, graphitic carbon allotropes were determined in OPF and OPT plasma chars. Different allotropes were detected as turbostratic carbon in PKS plasma char and cubic carbon in EFB plasma char.