INVESTIGATION OF DOWNDRAFT CO-GASIFICATION OF PALM KERNEL SHELL AND POLYSTYRENE WITH AIR AS THE GASIFYING AGENT FOR PRODUCTION OF SYNTHESIS GAS

Palm kernel shell (PKS) and polystyrene is a promising combination of feedstock for co-gasification. PKS has high energy content, while the use of polystyrene as a co-feedstock can reduce polystyrene waste held in landfills. However, there were no previous study on the performance and characteristics of the air co-gasification of PKS and PS. The information on the performance and characteristics using this combination of feedstocks is important for the design of an industrial reactor. In this work, the characteristic of the air co-gasification of PKS and PS was investigated. The thermal decomposition behaviour of the co-gasification of PKS and PS was investigated, and it was found that for PKS, three stages of major decomposition was observed, while for PS, only one major decomposition stage was observed. For the PKS-PS mixture, four major decomposition stages were observed.