Special Issue Article
Characterization of Fe2O3/FeOOH Catalyzed Solvolytic Liquefaction of Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) Products
| Sarani Zakaria1*, Tze Khong Liew1, Chin Hua Chia1, Fei Ling Pua1, Fan Suet Pin1, Rasidi Roslan1, Umar Adli Amran1, Antje Potthast2, Thomas Rosenau2 and Falk Liebner2 | |
| 1School of Applied Physics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), 43600 UKM, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia | |
| 2Department of Chemistry, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, (BOKU) A-1190, Vienna, Austria | |
| Corresponding Author : | Sarani Zakaria School of Applied Physics, Faculty of Science and Technology Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) 43600 UKM, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia Tel: +60 3 8921 3261 Fax: +60 3 8921 3777 E-mail: sarani@ukm.my |
| Received: April 09, 2013; Accepted: June 12, 2013; Published: June 14, 2013 | |
| Citation: Zakaria S, Liew TK, Chia CH, Pua FL, Pin FS, et al. (2013) Characterization of Fe2O3/FeOOH Catalyzed Solvolytic Liquefaction of Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) Products. J Bioremed Biodeg S4:001. doi:10.4172/2155-6199.S4-001 | |
| Copyright: © 2013 Zakaria S, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. | |
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Abstract
The addition of Fe2O3/FeOOH nanoparticles as a catalyst in solvolytic liquefaction of oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) could be cheaper and efficient alternative for biomass industry in Malaysia. Fe2O3/FeOOH can be found naturally in limonite ores and it is cheap, but work efficiently in catalyzing liquefaction. The purpose of this study is to understand the effects on the combination of Fe2O3/FeOOH, as the catalyst in solvolytic liquefaction of EFB. Solvolytic liquefaction of EFB fiber, with and without Fe2O3/FeOOH, was carried out in the nitrogen gas atmosphere using an autoclave. This liquefaction mainly yielded solvolytic oil, n-hexane insoluble preasphaltene and asphaltene phase (PA+A), and solid residue. The presence of catalyst has significantly increased the liquefaction yield and solvolytic oil fraction. Chemical elemental analysis has showed that the products with lower oxygen content are obtained when Fe2O3/FeOOH is used. FT-IR spectroscopy proved that the conversion of the higher molecular compound to the lower molecular compounds with larger number of functional groups has occurred. The analytical Pyrolysis-GCMS revealed the existence of lower molecular weight alcohols, ketones, phenolic and aromatic compounds.
