The characteristics and water/oil sorption effectiveness ofkapok fibre, sugarcane bagasse and rice husks have been compared. The three biomass types were subjected to field emission scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and surface tension analyses for liquid-air and oil-water systems were conducted. Both kapok fibre and sugarcane bagasse exhibit excellent oil sorption capabilities for diesel, crude, new engine and used engine oils as their oil sorption capacities all exceed 10 g/g. The synthetic sorbent exhibits oil sorption capacities comparable with sugarcane bagasse, while rice husks exhibit the lowest oil sorption capacities among all the sorbents. Kapok fibre shows overwhelmingly high oil-to-water sorption (O/W) ratios ranging from 19.35 to 201.53 while sugarcane bagasse, rice husks and synthetic sorbent have significantly lower O/W ratios (0.76-2.69). This suggests that kapok fibre is a highly effective oil sorbent even in well-mixed oil-water media. An oil sorbent suitability matrix is proposed to aid stakeholders in evaluating customized oil removal usage of the natural sorbents.

This study investigates the effect of pyrolysis temperature on the yields of char, organic compounds, water and gas. Fast pyrolysis was carried out in a fluidized bed reactor of 108 mm in internal diameter operated at 400, 450, 500 and 550 °C with nitrogen gas with flow rate of 25 L(NTP)/min. In specific the effect of temperature on the yields of known and unknown organics in bio-oil is discussed. For higher total organics, 500 oC was favorable. But higher phenol and acetic acid yields, 450 oC was preferable. The major organics include acetic acid, phenol and furfural. The minor ones include 2-methylphenol, 4-methylphenol, 4-methylnaphthalene, benzene, toluene and THF.

This study investigates the effect of biomass size on the yields of char, liquid (organic compounds and water) and gas for fast pyrolysis of palm kernel shell (PKS). Fast pyrolysis was carried out in a fluidized bed reactor of 108 mm in internal diameter operated at 450 °C using three different sizes of palm kernel shell (0.325, 0.75 and 1.5 mm). In specific the effect of biomass size on the yields of known and unknown organics in bio-oil was mainly investigated. The major organics include acetic acid, phenol and furfural. The minor ones include 2-methylphenol, 4-methylphenol, 2-methylnaphthalene, benzene, toluene and tetrahydrofurane (THF). Smaller biomass sizes were favorable for higher bio-oil yields.

Bio-oil production from pyrolysis of 0.15-0.5 mm and 1-2 mm palm kernel shell (PKS) has been investigated in a fluidized bed reactor under the nitrogen gas flow rate of 25 L(NTP)/min, with reactor temperature of 450°C. The pyrolysis unit has six successive condensers. Thus, six fractions of bio-oil samples were acquired from the six condensers. The calorific value, water content, ash content, and element content of each bio-oil samples were determined. The bio-oil yield from palm kernel shell with the size of 0.15-0.5 mm and 1-2 mm were 20 % and 26 %, respectively. The highest calorific value among the six bio-oil samples was 25.1 MJ/kg which was drawn from the forth condenser from pyrolysis of 0.15-0.5 mm of palm kernel shell. The incondensable gas was a mixture of hydrogen, methane, carbon dioxide and ethane.