ENHANCEMENT OF OIL PALM FRONDS GASIFICATION PROCESS USING PREHEATED INLET AIR

Emissions of greenhouse gases from fossil fuels and an ever growing demand for
energy source which is in dissonance with a limited supply of fossil fuels are the
current pressing global problems which need sustainable solution. Malaysia has
abundant but underutilized oil palm fronds (OPF) which could be used as a source of
renewable energy through appropriate conversion technologies. Conversion of
biomass into producer gas through gasification process is one of the promising
technologies to alleviate the aforementioned problems. Recently, gasification of
biomass using preheated air has been found as an efficient and environmentally
friendly method. However, the research works done with this method are few and
restricted to certain types of biomass wastes and gasifier designs.