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The influence of hydraulic retention time (HRT) on treating domestic wastewater of Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) was investigated in the pilot plant bio-continuous stirred tank reactor (Bio-CSTR) 1 m3. The bio-CSTR was operated at mesophilic condition and under two HRT conditions (33.3 days and 100 days) aimed to evaluate biogas productivity and operational stability. The pilot plant system was started with cow manure in the beginning, and its combination of POME, cow manure, and urea-DAP as micro nutrition in the first week. Afterward feeding of fresh POME was set between pH 5.4 and 5.5 by mixed it with overflow and further adjusted it with commercial ash soda. The performance observation shows that at shorter HRT, the organic compound was not consumed optimally. This was indicated by low pH 5.1 at the bio CSTR system and the amount biogas produced reached 54.3 L. In addition, it was needed more amount of ash soda to adjust the feeding. Setting by extending the HRT was gradually increased the pH so that needed less ash soda to adjust the pH. The biogas produced was increased 11.3 times higher than that of biogas at short HRT. The effectiveness of POME usage was got by the more organic compound was decomposed that indicated by lower COD analyzed at overflow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of hydraulic retention time (HRT) on treating domestic wastewater of Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) was investigated in the pilot plant bio-continuous stirred tank reactor (Bio-CSTR) 1 m3. The bio-CSTR was operated at mesophilic condition and under two HRT conditions (33.3 days and 100 days) aimed to evaluate biogas productivity and operational stability. The pilot plant system was started with cow manure in the beginning, and its combination of POME, cow manure, and urea-DAP as micro nutrition in the first week. Afterward feeding of fresh POME was set between pH 5.4 and 5.5 by mixed it with overflow and further adjusted it with commercial ash soda. The performance observation shows that at shorter HRT, the organic compound was not consumed optimally. This was indicated by low pH 5.1 at the bio CSTR system and the amount biogas produced reached 54.3 L. In addition, it was needed more amount of ash soda to adjust the feeding. Setting by extending the HRT was gradually increased the pH so that needed less ash soda to adjust the pH. The biogas produced was increased 11.3 times higher than that of biogas at short HRT. The effectiveness of POME usage was got by the more organic compound was decomposed that indicated by lower COD analyzed at overflow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Removing lignin, delignification, is necessary to increase the cellulose and hemicellulose contents. Usually, the conventional of delignification process involves high alkaline (2.5 M) and high temperature (150 °C) conditions. In this work, the delignification of oil palm Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) was investigated using microwave irradiation at low alkaline concentrations. Further, the effect of adding hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as a hydroxyl radical source in the delignification process was also evaluated. The delignification of EFB was carried out by adding 7.5 g of EFB/L and 500 ppm of H2O2 in NaOH solution until the total volume of 200 mL. The process was conducted in the microwave with a setting power of 100 Watt for 15 min. The NaOH concentration varied at 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, and maximum at 0.8 M, around 10% of the conventional delignification condition. It was found that the temperature of the solution increased with increasing times of the microwave radiation process. The total suspended solid (TSS) was influenced significantly by NaOH concentration. The addition of H2O2 has less effect on lignin removal. Lignin removal in 0.2 M NaOH without and with H2O2 reached 26% and 27%, respectively. The higher NaOH concentration could penetrate holocellulose so that the lignin percentage increased. The visualization of EFB by SEM proved that delignification proceeded successfully, in which could remove impurities from the surface of EFB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trend of using palm oil-based commodities in the global market continues to increase from year to year. Along with the development of the palm oil industry, the greater the amount of solid waste that accumulates can cause environmental problems. Slow pyrolysis technology is one alternative solution to overcome the pollution of oil palm lignocellulosic solid waste. The process produces carbon as green energy and has the potential for many applications such as activated carbon (absorbent, pharmaceutical, catalyst, energy storage) and soil remediation. This study is focused on the development of carbon material from oil palm solid waste such as palm kernel shells (PKS), empty fruits bunch (EFB), and oil palm frond (OPF). The oil palm solid wastes were carbonized with/without KOH activation under 300 – 700°C, heating rate 10°C/min, held for 30 min, and at atmospheric pressure. Before the experiments, the raw solid biomass were characterized the component content analysis, ultimate analysis, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The study shows that the biochars produced by pretreatment of KOH have a higher carbon content than that without pretreatment. The carbon content of biochar was analyzed using a CHN analyzer. The results of OPF with KOH activation have the highest C content of 84.4% at pyrolysis of 600°C. This result is in line with the characteristics of OPF, which has the highest holocellulose content among others. Fourier Transform IR (FTIR) spectra exhibited some functional groups on the surface of biochars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lignocellulosic biomass is a potential renewable source of raw material for chemical industry and fuels. Lignin is the second largest of the three components of biomass, together with cellulose and hemicellulose. Meanwhile, oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) is available in large quantity in Indonesia. Soda black liquor is a waste product from the soda pulping process of OPEFB with lignin as the main constituent. This study was carried out to reutilize the waste soda black liquor by isolating the lignin and modifying the washing process to increase the purity of lignin produced. The novelty of this study is the combination of the isolation of insoluble and soluble material from black liquor to increase isolation efficiency. The isolation process of lignin from soda black liquor is carried out firstly by aeration of black liquor for 14 days. Then, the insoluble material was separated and washed. During washing process, firstly, lignin was dissolve and recovered by addition of HCl 10%. The purification process was then carried out by washing the lignin by using water in a continuous filtration method. The results showed that the lignin can be isolated not only from soluble fraction of soda black liquor but also from insoluble after aeration process with a yield of 12.18%. The washing process succeeded in increasing the purity of lignin recovered by HCl from 47.91% in unwashed lignin to 91% in purified lignin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the performance of Indonesian-activated natural zeolite from different areas in Indonesia and applied it as a catalyst for the deoxygenation of fatty acid into hydrocarbons. Three different of natural zeolite were collected from several regions in Indonesia, including Lampung, Bandung, and Yogyakarta. The natural zeolite was activated through physical and chemical treatment by heating at 500 °C for 3 hours and stirring with 0.5M NaOH followed by 1M HCl. The catalytic activity of activated zeolite was evaluated by deoxygenation of lauric acid under hydrogen conditions at 350 °C for 4 hours to produce hydrocarbon. The conversion of the reactant and the product yields were analyzed by Gas Chromatography Mass-Spectroscopy (GC-MS). The highest conversion of lauric acid was 52.05%, with the yield of undecane and dodecane were 18.87% and 4.78%, respectively. The activated zeolite was characterized by Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and X-Ray diffraction (XRD) to observe changes in physical and chemical properties before and after activation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fibrous shape of catalysts offers a higher surface area and more accessible active sites than the extrudate and granules counterparts. While entanglement of the fibrous structure may form a self-standing material, its low mass density and brittle nature of catalysts hinder it from practical application, hence, sturdy support is required. This study aims to fabricate a fibrous silica-bound titanium dioxide photocatalyst on top of a fiberglass surface mat (FSM) support using a blow-spinning (BS) technique. The spinning volume varied between 1 and 5 mL while maintaining the Ti/Si mass ratio at 40 and 60%. The BS produced long and continuous fiber of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)-silica-titania composite on top of the FSM for both 40% and 60% composites. Calcination of the composite fiber at 450 °C/2h burnt off the PVP leaving behind the silica-titania composite. After calcination, the two samples displayed different morphology. The silica-titania composite in the 40% Ti/Si sample was found to be deeply penetrated the FSM support and formed a rigid composite. The fibrous structure of the silica-titania, however, collapsed. On the other hand, the silica-titania composite in the 60% Ti/Si sample sits on top of the FSM and partially retained the fibrous shape. Despite the fiber structural collapse and variation in the silica-titania location in the composite, it retained a high photocatalytic activity against methyl orange, methylene blue, and a combination of both dyes. The FSM had a high affinity to adsorb MB and MB removal is due to a combination of adsorption and photodegradation. MO removal, on the other hand mainly due to photodegradation. Higher TiO2 content and spinning volume are beneficial for MO removal but not for MB removal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indonesia located in equator area has abundant biomass which is the most attractive source among other alternative resources. Biomass also represents a high potential for the sustainable production of both valuable chemicals and biofuels. Biomass in Indonesia offers abundance, easy availability, carbon neutrality, and eco-friendly features make a positive impact on this situation, decreases of oil reserves and increases prices of oil-based fuels. Thermo-chemical routes considered as a suitable technology for utilization of biomass like Hydrothermal Liquefaction (HTL) to produce Bio Crude Oil (BCO). Various solvents like water, alkali, polar, and organic acid were examined to observe the characteristic of process at 300°C. HTL was conducted in 1000 ml high pressure and temperature reactor. This work used frond oil palm which is abundantly available and untapped resources in palm plantations. The experiment confirmed that the pressure in reactor depend on the vapour pressure of the solvent. In addition, the vapor pressure is also determined by the boiling point. Water and alkali solvent gave the same operating pressure as indicated by the vapor pressure of water, 82 bar. Unfortunately, the biomass was polymerized at 300°C. To prevent the polymerization, a commercial cracking catalyst was added to break the polymer chain of the product. Regarding the product, water, as a solvent, produced bio-char 37%. Alkali solution has a role to breakdown part of lignin so that the char decreased to 30%. In addition, further degrade biomass could be work more effective by combining cracking catalyst like NiMo that showed by formation of CO, CO2 and CH4. Those gases formation showed decarboxylation, decarboxylation, and cracking process, respectively. Catalyst as expected, avoid the polymerization that can be seen at powdering of biochar. The catalyst worked more effective in acid condition as shown by more CH4 in syngas. Unfortunately, the liquid product was still dominated by water, more than 80% and the yield of BCO was considered very low. TGA analyzed showed the volatile compound that vaporized between 110-300°C was considered the component that might cause be converted into water. Therefore, the work would focus more at chemicals content produced by HTL like acetic acid, phenol, ester, and ether. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synthesis gas, also known as syngas, produced from biomass materials has been identified as a potential source of renewable energy. Syngas mainly consists of CO and H2, which can be as raw materials for methanol synthesis using a catalyst in a fixed bed reactor. In recent times, methanol production has been significantly augmented in energy and chemical industries as it is an essential molecule for chemical synthesis and other utilities such as clean transportation fuel. The assessment of methanol production for low cost, low temperature, and low pressure was conducted by a catalyst that has been developed. The role of the catalyst is the key to achieve optimal conditions through lower activation energy. The focus of this work has the performance test of Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 Catalyst to methanol production from syngas. First, the catalyst was prepared by the co-precipitation and impregnation method. The as-synthesized catalyst was then characterized using XRD, XRF, SEM-EDX, and BET. The result of XRD showed the catalyst has the same component (Al, Cu, Zn) with different crystallite diameter of CuO. The result of the SEM showed catalyst was collected on one site, but still in a relatively good distribution. From the BET surface area analyzer, the catalyst synthesized through the impregnation method (113.62 m²/g) has a bigger surface area than the co-precipitation method (43.26 m²/g) and commercial catalyst (64.75 m²/g). The catalytic activity of Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalysts in methanol production from syngas was preliminarily tested and compared with that commercial one. The result showed that hence the catalytic activity of Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalysts through co-precipitation and impregnation method was still inferior (0.96 % and 1.25 % yield methanol) compared to commercial one (1.26 % yield methanol), they were potential to be used as a catalyst in the methanol production from syngas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bio Continues Stirring Tank Reactor, bio-CSTR, is the heart of any bio-process in which involving microorganism or its product in the process like microbes or enzymes are used in wide range manufacture application to produce bio-products like biogas. The performance of a bio-CSTR is influenced on many parameters and functions: complexity and interconnection process in the bio-CSTR that will affect to the product of bio-CSTR such as biological, chemical, physic and mechanical to produce, in this case, biogas. The using of Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME), a liquid waste of palm oil industry, has low pH, containing suspended solid, grease and the microbial processing will produce biogas with contain corrosive compound, H2S. Based on existing bio-reactor at PTSEIK-BPPT, an assessment is conducted and further required in order to observe and analyze the effect for bio-CSTR made of mild stainless steel. It is important to closely consider the parameters like internal and external mass transfer, fluid velocity, and shear stress. The effects of such variables on biological cultures have been addressed in this work. Sophisticated and sound bio-CSTR design with unique performance characteristics is important in production of high quality biogas from POME. Understanding of the behavior in bio-CSTR would result in modified bio-CSTR designs and operation which are important to optimize throughput rates and minimizing cost. The paper discusses the bio-CSTR analysis and design by considering existing bio-reactors and various processes, which are useful to optimize biogas production from POME. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biodiesel is an alternative fuel that can be renewed and is more environmentally friendly. In this study, biodiesel was produced from used cooking oil (UCO) through saponification and transesterification reaction. Furthermore, hydrodeoxygenation was carried out over NiMo/ɣ-Al2O3 catalyst in batch autoclave reactor to produce green diesel. The reaction conditions were conducted at 30 and 50 bar and temperatures of 300, 350, 400 and 450ᵒC. Characterization of gas products were conducting using GC-TCD, while the liquid products using GC-MS. Biodiesel and green diesel are calculated using %yield. The result of characterization of gas products using GC-TCD shows the components of H, O2, CO, CH4 and CO2 which indicate the selectivity of the hydrotreating HDO reaction to DCO/DCO2 and fracturing. While green diesel biodiesel liquid products contain methyl ester and ethyl ester compounds with saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbon chains with a range of C11-C25 and alkene hydrocarbon compounds. The quality of biodiesel and green diesel showed in accordance with Indonesian National Standard for Biodiesel. The effect of reaction condition to produce green diesel were studied to elucidate the hydrodeoxygenation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy demands have increased substantially over the last decade and consequently alternative energy sources are becoming a greater necessity. Therefore researchers are focus-sing on the development of processes and technologies that are environmentally-friendly, whilst ensuring reasonable standards of living throughout our world. Biomass is one of the more important potential sources for the production of synthetic fuels and energy. Biomass syngas as the intermediate product of utilization biomass to liquid fuel, bio-methanol. In recent times, methanol production has been significantly augmented in energy and chemical industries as it is an essential molecule for chemical synthesis and other utilities such as clean transportation fuel. The assessment of methanol production for low cost was conducted by catalyst that has been developed. The role of the catalyst is the key to achieve optimal conditions through lower activation energy. Focus of this work has developed low cost catalyst for methanol synthesis. The catalyst of methanol synthesis was prepared by impregnation method of Cu and Zn with activated carbon as a support catalyst. The as-synthesized catalyst was then characterized using XRD, XRF, SEM-EDX, and BET. The result of XRD showed the catalyst has the same component (Cu, Zn) with crystallite diameter of CuO is 36.87 nm. The result of the SEM showed catalyst was collected on one site, but still in the relatively good distribution. From the BET surface area analyzer, the catalyst synthesized has higher surface area (433.2 m²/g) than commercial catalyst (64.75 m²/g). The catalytic activity of Cu/ZnO/Activated-Carbon catalysts in methanol production from syngas were preliminary tested and compared with that commercial one. The result showed that hence the catalytic activity of Cu/ZnO/Activated-Carbon catalysts througth impregnation methode was still inferior 1.12% yield methanol) compared to commercial one (1.26 % yield methanol), they were potential to be used as catalyst in the methanol production from syngas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biomass syngas as the intermediate product of utilization biomass to liquid fuel, bio-methanol. The syngas production itself was conducted due to its environmentally clean fuel and reducing greenhouse effect. The syngas was subject to low cost catalytic methanol synthesis assessment in term of low pressure and low temperature using high local content was developed in BPPT Indonesia. The catalyst has key role to achieve optimal conditions through lowering energy activation. BPPT has developed the methanol synthesis with Cu-based impregnation catalyst using γ-Al2O3 and Activated-Carbon from palm oil shell as support catalyst. Previous experiments delivered maximum methanol product reached 8 % by operational condition 14 bar and 260°C which closed to equilibrium concentration. Further work studied more detail using internal standard and simulation by MATLAB 2014. By this condition 4% of CO was converted to methanol. Validation conducted in micromeritic at 260°C of the simulation showed maximum yield based on H2 conversion reached up to 35.39 and 31.17% at 14 and 17 bars respectively. CO conversion calculation gave maximum yield up to 36.39 and 35.45% at 14 and 17 bars respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Syngas of biomass is touted as an alternative energy due to its environmentally clean fuel and reducing greenhouse effect. Utilization of biomass through gasification is usually intended for power generation and produce syngas. The syngas of biomass is proposed for methanol production using local catalyst. The assessment of methanol production for low cost, low temperature and low pressure was conducted by local catalyst that has been developed. The role of the catalyst is the key to achieve optimal conditions through lower activation energy. This study is highlighting the methanol synthesis with Cu-based impregnation catalyst using γ Al2O3 and Activated-Carbon as the support catalyst. Experiments were carried out for the methanol synthesis at low pressure, 14 bar, and low temperature, from 200 to 260°C. As the result, both catalysts were comparable with a commercial catalyst. Methanol production was good reproducibility. At 260°C, methanol production of both local catalysts reached 8 %, close to equilibrium concentration, while the commercial catalyst was only 2.4%. However, at lower temperature, the methanol production using the local catalysts was less than 0.28% at 200°C and increase by raising temperature. Thus, methanol production was influenced by reaction rate which was much lower than equilibrium state. Scaling up methanol synthesis of commercial catalyst reached 5.2% because of retention time extended. In addition, liquid product was harvested but only 0.9% methanol concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bio-energy is renewable energy made from plant. Biomass-based energy sources are potentially CO2 neutral and recycle the same carbon atoms. In order to reduce pollution caused by fossil fuel combustion either for mechanical or electrical energy generation, the performance characteristic of purified palm oil blends are analyzed at various ratios. Bio-energy, Pure Plant Oil, represent a sustainable solution.A generator has been modified due to adapt the viscosity ofblended fuel, PPO - diesel, by pre-heating. Several PPO - diesel composition and injection timing were tested in order to investigate the characteristic of mixed fuel with and without pre-heating. The term biofuel refers to liquid or gaseous fuels for the internal combustion engines that are predominantly produced fro m biomass. Surprising result showed that BSFC of blended PPO - diesel was more efficient when injection timing set more than 15° BTDC. The mixed fuel produced power with less mixed fuel even though the calorie content of diesel is higher than PPO. The most efficient was 20% PPO in diesel with BSFC 296 gr fuel / kwh rather than 100% diesel with BSFC 309 gr fuel / kwh at the same injection timing 18° BTDC with pre-heating. The improvement of BSFC is caused by heating up of mixed fuel which it added calorie in the mixed fuel. Therefore, the heating up of blended PPO - diesel is not only to adapt the viscosity but also improving the efficiency of fuel usage representing by lower BSFC. In addition, torque of the 20% PPO was also as smooth as 100% diesel representing by almost the same torqueat injection timing 15° BTDC. The AIP Proceedings article template has many predefined paragraph styles for you to use/apply as you write your paper. To format your abstract, use the Microsoft Word template style: Abstract. Each paper must include an abstract. Begin the abstract with the word “Abstract” followed by a period in bold font, and then continue with a normal 9 point font. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]