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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]

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]