MICROWAVE INDUCED PYROLYSIS FOR BIO-OIL PRODUCTION FROM LIGNOCELLULOSIC BIOMASS

Pyrolysis is a process where the decomposition of material occurs at elevated
temperature (typically at around 300 to 650 °C) in the absence of an oxidizing agent.
The pyrolysis of biomass by means of conventional heating is found to be slow due to
the biomass has relatively high moisture and low heating value that would slow down
the heating process. In order to overcome this issue, microwave induced pyrolysis was
introduced in this study to decompose biomass into chemical compound. The
microwave, heats effectively by delivering energy to material through molecular
interaction with electromagnetic field and transfers energy throughout the volume of
material. Volumetric heating is the key to reduce the processing time. Ten types of
biomass that are available in Malaysia were used in the study such as oil palm kernel
shell, oil palm leaves, empty fruit bunches, oil palm frond, rubber seed inner shell,
rubber seed outer shell, corn cob, sugarcane bagasse, rice husk and coconut shell.