title: Microwave-enhanced CO2 gasification of oil palm shell char.
abstract: CO2 gasification of oil palm shell (OPS) char to produce CO through the Boudouard reaction (C + CO2 ↔ 2CO) was investigated under microwave irradiation. A microwave heating system was developed to carry out the CO2 gasification in a packed bed of OPS char. The influence of char particle size, temperature and gas flow rate on CO2 conversion and CO evolution was considered. It was attempted to improve the reactivity of OPS char in gasification reaction through incorporation of Fe catalyst into the char skeleton. Very promising results were achieved in our experiments, where a CO2 conversion of 99% could be maintained during 60 min microwave-induced gasification of iron-catalyzed char. When similar gasification experiments were performed in conventional electric furnace, the superior performance of microwave over thermal driven reaction was elucidated. The activation energies of 36.0, 74.2 and 247.2 kJ/mol were obtained for catalytic and non-catalytic microwave and thermal heating, respectively.
authors.affiliation: Biomass and Bioenergy Laboratory, School of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Pooya
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lahijani
authors.affiliation: Biomass and Bioenergy Laboratory, School of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia. Electronic address: mezainal@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Zainal Alimuddin
authors.initials: ZA
authors.lastname: Zainal
authors.affiliation: Low Carbon Economy (LCE) Research Group, School of Chemical Engineering, Engineering Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Abdul Rahman
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Mohamed
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Babol Noushirvani University of Technology, 47148 Babol, Iran.
authors.forename: Maedeh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mohammadi
mesh_terms: D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry*; D002384:Catalysis; D005740:Gases / Q000737:chemistry*; D006358:Hot Temperature; D008872:Microwaves; D000073878:Palm Oil; D010938:Plant Oils / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D005740:Gases; D010938:Plant Oils; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D000073878:Palm Oil
keywords: Activation energy; Biomass char; Boudouard reaction; CO(2) gasification; Microwave heating