See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/340206141

Study of bio-briquette formulation from mixture palm oil empty fruit bunches
and palm oil shells

Article  in  IOP Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science · March 2020

DOI: 10.1088/1755-1315/443/1/012079

CITATIONS READS

0 8

4 authors, including:

Musfiq Amrullah Efri Mardawati

Universitas Padjadjaran Universitas Padjadjaran
1 PUBLICATION   0 CITATIONS    49 PUBLICATIONS   96 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Roni Kastaman
Universitas Padjadjaran
16 PUBLICATIONS   10 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

ALG - Universitas Padjadjaran View project

synbiotic food based on Bandung local sorghum View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Musfiq Amrullah on 28 March 2020.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science

PAPER • OPEN ACCESS

Study of bio-briquette formulation from mixture palm oil empty fruit

bunches and palm oil shells
To cite this article: M Amrullah et al 2020 IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci. 443 012079

View the article online for updates and enhancements.

This content was downloaded from IP address 112.215.253.185 on 28/03/2020 at 02:13

International Conference on Food and Bio-Industry 2019 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 443 (2020) 012079 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/443/1/012079

Study of bio-briquette formulation from mixture palm oil

empty fruit bunches and palm oil shells

M Amrullah1, E Mardawati1, R Kastaman1 and S Suryaningsih2

1
Department of Agroindustrial Technology, Faculty of Agroindustrial Technology,
Universitas Padjadjaran, Jatinangor, Indonesia
2
Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas
Padjadjaran, Jatinangor, Indonesia

Email: musfiqamrullah16@gmail.com

Abstract. Bio-briquette is an alternative fuel derived from biomass. West Java has the potential
of palm oil empty bunches (OPEFB) and palm oil shells biomass that can be used as bio-briquette
raw material. The characteristics of each raw material affect the quality of the bio-briquettes
produced. it is necessary to find a mixture of formulations between palm oil empty bunches
(OPEFB) and palm oil shells that produce the highest quality bio-briquettes. This study aims to
find a mixture of palm oil empty bunches and palm oil shell formulations that produce bio-
briquettes with optimum quality based on calorific value. This study used an experimental
method with descriptive analysis. Variation of mixed formulations consisted of 5 treatments with
a concentration of 7% adhesive material, carbonization temperature OPEFB 350 oC and palm oil
shell 500 oC, compression pressure 225 kg/cm2, drying temperature 60 oC within 3 hours (2
replication). The observational parameters were the calorific value and proximate characteristics.
The results showed that carbon content increased in both raw materials after the carbonization
process expected, The highest calorific value of 5,475 cal/gram was produced by bio briquettes
with a mixture ratio of oil palm empty bunches and oil palm shells of 25:75.

1. Introduction
West Java is the province with the most population in Indonesia, according to statistical data the
population in West Java in 2015 amounted to 43.05 million people and is predicted in 2025 to reach
52.78 million. The increasing population in West Java has a direct impact on energy use. The final
energy consumption of West Java province in 2015 reached 19.19 MTOE (Million tons oil equivalent).
Fulfilling energy consumption of 94% still uses fossil energy, with a 35% oil, 23% coal, and 36% natural
gas. While the use of new renewable energy (EBT) is only 6% of total energy consumption in West Java
[1]. The West Java provincial government announced that by 2025 energy consumption needs could be
met using renewable energy at least 17% of total energy consumption. To support these needs, one of
the EBTs that can be developed is bio briquette. Biobriquette is a solid fuel that comes from biomass
sources.
West Java has the potential of biomass for bio briquettes feedstock by utilizing the solid waste of the
oil palm industry. In 2016, West Java had an oil palm plantation area of 14,305 ha which was able to
produce 35,227 tons of CPO (Crude Palm Oil) [2]. In 1 ton processing of oil palm fresh fruit bunches,
produced 23% CPO, 7% PKO, 23% oil palm empty fruit bunches and 9% oil palm shells [3], so that the
total oil palm empty fruit bunches and oil palm shells produced by West Java reached 35 thousand

Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution
of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd 1
International Conference on Food and Bio-Industry 2019 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 443 (2020) 012079 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/443/1/012079

tons/year and 13 thousand tons/year. At present, the largest use of both solid waste is used as boiler fuel
with a percentage of 63% palm oil shell [3] and 10% oil palm empty fruit bunches [4] as an energy
source in palm oil processing plants. Thus, there is still an excess of oil palm empty fruit bunches and
oil palm shell waste which can be utilized as bio briquettes feedstock. Oil palm empty fruit bunches
containing carbon and palm shells are potential to be used as raw material for bio briquettes because
they have a high carbon atom content. Oil palm empty bunches contain 46.62% [5] and oil palm shells
55.82% [6] carbon atoms. Based on the amount of availability of raw materials, oil palm empty fruit
bunches have more availability compared to palm oil shells. However when viewed from the calorific
value as one of the fuel quality requirements, the oil palm empty fruit bunch calorific value is lower than
the oil palm shell calorific value, which is 4,264.54 cal/gram while the oil palm shell is 5,637.88
cal/gram [7]. This study aims to produce mixed bio briquettes of oil palm empty bunches with oil palm
shells that have high heating value characteristics and have sufficient raw material available so that the
sustainability aspects of the use of these products can be fulfilled.

2. Material and methods

2.1. Materials
The material used in this study is oil palm empty fruit bunches and oil palm shells which are palm oil
processing wastes obtained from the palm oil mill of PT. Condong Garut. As for the adhesive using
tapioca flour. The characteristics of empty bunches of oil palm and oil palm shells based on some
literature are described in table 1:
Table 1. Characteristict of palm oil empty bunches and palm oil shells.
Palm oil empty fruit bunches Palm oil shells
Content
a b C d e f
Carbon (%) 46.62 48.78 49.07 53.78 49.74 55.82
Water Content (%) 5.18 8.75 7.95 5.73 11.00 11.90
Volatile matter (%) 82.58 79.67 83.86 73.74 67.20 66.80
Ash Content (%) 3.45 3.02 5.36 2.21 2.10 3.40
Fixed Carbon (%) 8.97 8.68 10.78 18.37 19.70 17.90
a
Mohammed et al (2011) [5],
b
Ma and Yousof (2005) [8]
c
Yang et al (2006) [9],
d
Sukiran (2008) [10]
e
Abnisa et al (2011) [11],
f
Lee et al (2006) [6]

2.2. Methods
This study uses an experimental method with descriptive data analysis. Research begins by carrying out
the carbonation process on oil palm and oil palm shell empty fruit bunches. The carbonation process is
carried out to remove materials that are not useful in the combustion process and increase the fixed
carbon content. The carbonation process of oil palm empty fruit bunches is regulated at 350 oC for 2
hours, while the palm oil shell is carried out at 450 oC for 2.5 hours. Determination of temperature and
carbonation time is influenced by differences in the lignocellulose composition of the two ingredients
[12].
Carbonated charcoal from both materials was carried out uniformly using a 20 mesh sieve. The
formulation of mixed oil palm empty fruit bunches and oil palm shells consists of 5 different
concentration treatments. The total mixture of raw materials for oil palm empty fruit bunches and oil
palm shells for each bio briquettes is 80 grams. During the process of making briquettes from the five
variations of treatment, 7% of the adhesive material will be added which is equal to 5.6 grams, the
compression pressure is 225 kg/cm 2, and the drying temperature is 60 oC for 3 hours. After

2
International Conference on Food and Bio-Industry 2019 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 443 (2020) 012079 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/443/1/012079

homogenization between the three materials, forming was carried out using a cylindrical mold with
dimensions of high 11 cm and diameter 4.23 cm. Composition 5 of the treatment is shown in table 2.
Table 2. Formulation treatment in the briquetting process.
Ration
Adhesive Compression Drying Time
Treatment Oil Palm Empty
Oil Palm Shell Concentration Pressure and
Fruit Bunches (%) (kg/cm 2) Temperature
(%)
(%)
1 0 100 7 225 T = 60 oC t = 3 hr
2 25 75 7 225 T = 60 oC t = 3 hr
3 50 50 7 225 T = 60 oC t = 3 hr
4 75 25 7 225 T = 60 oC t = 3 hr
5 100 0 7 225 T = 60 oC t = 3 hr

Each treatment is repeated twice. Test parameters in the form of calorific value and proximate analysis
(moisture content, Volatile Matter, Ash Content, Fixed Carbon). Measurement of calorific value is
carried out using a bomb calorimeter using the C 2000 IKA adiabatic calorimeter instrument. The
formula for upper heating value (HHV) and lower calorific value (LHV) are as follows:
(𝑚 𝑥 𝐶𝑝 𝑥 𝛥𝑇)
𝐿𝐻𝑉 = (1)
𝑚 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑘𝑒𝑡
𝐾𝑗
𝐻𝐻𝑉 = (𝑇2 − 𝑇1 − 𝑇𝑘𝑝) 𝑥 𝐶𝑣 ( ) (2)
𝐾𝑔

3. Result and discussion

3.1. Carbonized chorcoal yield

In the carbonation process, thermochemical decomposition occurs in both materials into products with
smaller molecules in the form of solids, liquids, and gases. The carbonation process carried out in this
study uses the condition of slow pyrolysis. This is done to maintain the expected result in the form of
carbon charcoal. The yield of the pyrolysis results is presented in table 3.
Table 3. Carbonized chorcoal yield.
Initial Mass Final Mass Yield
Material
(kg) (kg) (%)
Oil palm empty fruit bunches 4.5 1.5 33
Oil palm shell 8.5 3.9 46

Yield of oil palm empty bunches produced from the pyrolysis process is 33% and yield of palm oil shells
is 46%. The amount of yield produced from the pyrolysis process depends on the characteristics of the
material and the temperature of the pyrolysis. Material decomposition occurs at 220 oC, while the
process of forming charcoal starts at 320 oC [13]. The peak temperature of pyrolisis in this study reached
350 oC. More lignin amounts in oil palm shells cause the rate of warming to be slower than that of oil
palm empty fruit bunches, which causes the percentage of charcoal produced to be higher [14]. The
texture of raw materials for oil palm empty fruit bunches and oil palm shells before and after the
carbonization process can be shown in figure 1.

3
International Conference on Food and Bio-Industry 2019 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 443 (2020) 012079 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/443/1/012079

(a) (b) (c) (d)

Figure 1. (a) OPEFB before carbonation, (b) palm shell before carbonation, (c) OPEFB after
carbonation, (d) Palm oil shell after carbonation.

3.2. Proximate characteristics of carbonized chorcoal

Charcoal characteristics from carbonation results were obtained from the proximate analysis carried out
at the ESDM Mineral and Coal Technology Laboratory. The parameters of the analysis consisted of the
content of moisture content, Volatile Matter, Ash Content, and Fixed Carbon. The Fixed Carbon amount
contained in the material is influenced by the other three parameters, the higher the fixed carbon, the
lower the content of water, volatile matter, and ash content [12]. The criteria for materials as fuel are
expected to have a high fixed carbon content. Data from the proximate analysis are shown in table 4.
Table 4. Proximate characteristic charcoal of OPEFB and palm oil shell.
Content Oil palm empty fruit buches Palm oil shell
Water content (%) 9.23 4.94
Volatile Matter (%) 16.57 32.84
Ash Content (%) 23.34 5.71
Fixed Carbon (%) 50.86 56.51

Based on proximate analysis results in table 4, it is known that oil palm empty fruit bunches have a
higher water content and ash content compared to oil palm shells. In the process of combustion of solid
fuels, the substances used in the process are volatile matter and fixed carbon, while ash content is a
substance that can not be burned so it is not used in the process of combustion of solid fuels. Materials
that contain high volatile matter and fixed carbon are good ingredients for use as fuel. Based on the
results of the analysis, it is known that oil palm shells have higher volatile matter and fixed carbon
content compared to oil palm empty fruit bunches, namely 32.84% fixed carbon and ash content 56.51%.

3.3. Biobriquette
Biobriquette making is done by mixing oil palm empty bunches, oil palm shells, and tapioca adhesive
materials. The total mixture of raw materials for oil palm empty fruit bunches and oil palm shells for
each bio briquettes is 80 grams. The concentration of tapioca adhesive which is added is 7% of the total
weight of the raw material which is equal to 5.6 grams. After homogenization between the three
materials, forming was carried out using a cylindrical mold with dimensions of high 11 cm and diameter
4.23 cm. The pressure in the forming process given is 225 kg/cm2. Biobriquette produced from each
treatment is shown in figure 2.

4
International Conference on Food and Bio-Industry 2019 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 443 (2020) 012079 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/443/1/012079

Figure 2. Biobriquette.

3.4. Biobriquette calorific value analysis

Analysis of calorific value was carried out using the C 2000 IKA adiabatic calorimeter instrument. In
this study, the mass of samples tested from each bio briquette was set at 1.474 grams. The heating test
was carried out twice for each treatment. The results of the analysis of calorific values are shown in
table 5.
Table 5. Calorific value of biobriquette from mixture OPEFB and oil palm shell.
Ratio
Average
Treatment Oil palm empty Tapioca Calorific Value
Oil palm shell
fruit bunches adhesive (cal/gram)
(%)
(%) (%)
1 0 100 7 5,227
2 25 75 7 5,475
3 50 50 7 5,156
4 75 25 7 4,630
5 100 0 7 5,263

Table 5 shows the average calorific value of each ratio of material mixtures between oil palm empty
fruit bunches and oil palm shells. Based on the test results carried out the highest calorific value was
produced from the ratio of oil palm empty fruit bunches with oil palm shells 25:75. The calorific value
generated from this ratio reaches 5,475 cal/gram. While the lowest calorific value was generated from
the mixture ratio between oil palm empty fruit bunches and palm oil shells 75:25 with the resulting
heating value of 4,630 cal/gram. The calorific value generated from the ratio of mixed oil palm empty
fruit bunches with oil palm shells 25:75 has complied with Indonesian National Standard (SNI)
No.1/6235/2000 which is only 5,000 cal/gram.

4. Conclusion
The carbonation process is proven to increase the level of fixed carbon in oil palm shell material and oil
palm empty bunches. The volatile matter and fixed carbon content of oil palm shell charcoal are higher
than that of oil palm empty fruit bunches. The highest calorific value of 5,475 cal/gram was produced
by bio briquettes with a mixture ratio of oil palm empty bunches and oil palm shells of 25:75.

5
 International Conference on Food and Bio-Industry 2019 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 443 (2020) 012079 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/443/1/012079

References
[1] West Java Provincial Government 2019 Rencana Umum Energi Daerah Provinsi Jawa barat
Tahun 2018–2050 (Bandung: ESDM Jabarprov)
[2] Directorate General of Estate Crops 2016 Statistik Perkebunan Indonesia Komoditas Kelapa
Sawit 2015–2017 (Jakarta: Secretariate of Directorate General of Estate Crops)
[3] Nasution Z A, Limbong H P and Nasution S S 2018 Processing of Oil Palm Shells Into Carbon
Black Smalll medium Industries Scale and Feasibility Studies J. Plant. Based Industry 13(1)
1–10
[4] Dewanti D P 2018 Cellulose Potential of Empty Fruit Bunches Waste as The Raw Material of
Bioplastics Environmentally Friendly J. Env. Technol. 19(1) 81–8
[5] Mohammed M A A, Salmiaton A, Wan A and Amran M 2011 Gasification of Oil Palm Empty
Fruit Bunch for: a Characterization and Kinetic Study J. Biores. Technol. 110 628–36
[6] Lee Y, Park J, Ryu C, Gang K S, Yang W, Park Y K, Jung J and Hyun S 2013 Comparison of
Biochar Properties from Biomass Residues Produced by Slow Pyrolysis at 500 oC J. Biores.
Technol. 148 196–201
[7] Paul O U, Jhon I H, Ndubuisi I, Peter A and Godspower O 2015 Calorific Value of Palm Oil
Residues for Energy Utilisation Inter. J. Eng. Innov. Res. 4(4) 664–7
[8] Ma A N and Yousof B 2005 Biomass Energy from Palm Oil Industry in Malaysia. Ingenieur 27
18–25
[9] Yang H, Yan R, Chen H, Lee D, Liang D and Zhang C 2006 Pyrolisis of Palm Oil Waste for
Enchance Production of Hydrogen Rich Gas Fuel Proces. Technol. 87 935–942
[10] Sukiran M 2008 Pyrolisis of Empty Oil Pal Fruit Bunch using the Quartzh Fluidized-fixed bed
Reactor (Thesis) (University of Malaya)
[11] Abnisa F, Daud W M A D, Husin M N W and Sahu J N 2011 Utilization Possibilities of Palm
Shell as a Source of Biomass Energy in Malaysia by Producing bio-oil in Pyrolisis Process
Biomass and Bioenergy 25 1863–72
[12] Suryaningsih S, Nurhilal O 2018 Sustainable Energy Development of Bio briquettes based on
Rice Husk Blended Materials: an alternative energy source J. Phy. Conf. Series 1013 2018
012184
[13] Nyakuma B B, Johari A, Ahmad A and Abdullah T A T 2014 Comparative Analysis of The
Calorific Fuel Properties of Empty Fruit Bunch Fiber and Briquette Energy Procedia 52 466–
73
[14] Raju M, Tambunan A H, Setiawan and R P A2016 Characterization of Pyrolysis Char and Gases
of Palm Oil Waste J. Agri. Eng. 4(2) 153–60

Acknowledgment
The author would like to thank to Department of Agroindustrial Technology and Department of Physics
Universitas Padjadjaran for all the facilities provided in carrying out this research.

View publication stats