Effect of portions and particle sizes on ultimate properties of oil palm fronds

Abstract

The ultimate properties are important to determine the percentage of constituent elements of material which contributes to combustion. Combustion is one of the important elements to determine whether a material is suitable to be used as a solid fuel or not. Thus, the objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of portions and particle sizes on the ultimate properties of oil palm fronds. The ultimate analysis parameters are carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur, and oxygen. The carbon (C), hydrogen (H), nitrogen (N) and sulphur (S) elements were determined using a CHNS/O Analyzer, Perkin Elmer 2400 Series II base on ASTM D3176 standard, while oxygen (O) was determined by the difference of other percentages from 100%. The average percentage of carbon of bottom, middle and top portion of oil palm fronds for smaller particle size (0.5mm) were 43.46±0.10%, 43.37±0.04% and 43.32±0.04% respectively. On the other hand, the average percentage of carbon of the same portion of oil palm fronds for bigger particle size (1.5mm) were 44.30±0.04%, 43.82±0.02% and 43.69±0.04% respectively. Meanwhile, the average percentage of hydrogen of the same portion of oil palm fronds for smaller particle size (0.5mm) were 5.41±0.02%, 5.38±0.02% and 5.34±0.01% respectively. The average percentage of hydrogen of the same portion of oil palm fronds for bigger particle size (1.5mm) were 5.50±0.04%, 5.43±0.02% and 5.33±0.01% respectively. The average percentage of nitrogen of the same portion of oil palm fronds for smaller particle size (0.5mm) were 0.44±0.02%, 0.45±0.02% and 0.48±0.02% respectively and for bigger particle size were 0.40±0.01%, 0.46±0.01% and 0.47±0.02% respectively. The average percentage of sulphur of the same portion of oil palm fronds for smaller particle size (0.5mm) were 0.31±0.02%, 0.34±0.01% and 0.35±0.01% respectively and for bigger particle size were 0.32±0.02%, 0.33±0.01% and 0.34±0.01% respectively. Finally, the average percentage of oxygen of the same portion of oil palm fronds for smaller particle size were 50.38±0.01%, 50.51±0.02% and 50.51±0.02% respectively and for bigger particle size were 49.58±0.02%, 49.96±0.02% and 50.17±0.03% respectively. Based on the results of the ultimate analysis above, it can be concluded that oil palm fronds have the potential to be utilised as solid fuel.