Abstract

The difficulty of controlling the required air during the incineration of the fiber and shell; the
low heating value of solid fuel due to the excessive moisture content of fiber and shell and
further formation of slagging or clinker in the reactor as a result of high ash content, are
some problems raised when incinerating both fiber and shell. in this simulation work, the
effects of air flow rate; moisture content of shell, moisture content of fiber, and moisture
content of both shell and fiber; the ash content of fiber and shell and temperature were
investigated and optimized on flue gas emissions and the combustion behavior using steady
state simulation by ASPEN PLUS (Version 7.1). From the results obtained, the fiber-shell type
solid fuel is preferable and the air flow rate should be controlled and suggested maintained
at 30% excess air to regulate NOX emission. Besides, the moisture content and ash shows
negative effect to the combustion efficiency and the moisture content is suggested in the
range of 6%-19.5% for fiber and 5%-13% for shell. Last but not least, the operating
temperature is suggested do not exceed 972oC to regulate the NO X emission.

Introduction
World demand for energy sources is increasing, and thus, renewable energy sources have
become an alternative to the depleting fossil fuel. One type of renewable energy sources
comes from combustion of biomass waste, which is also called solid fuel, to produce heat
and energy. This is a promising technology to reduce waste and moreover provide a clean
and renewable energy source by applying waste-to-wealth concept. Malaysia has become
the largest exporter of oil palm product in the world (Foo & Hameed, 2010). While
generating huge income from oil palm business, there are abundant of oil palm biomass
waste (generall y fiber and shell) generated at the same time. This biomass waste has been
utilized to generate energy and electricity to support the mill process. In addition, the fiber
and shell are also burnt to generate steam for downstream processes that required steam
such as sterilization. As such, a lot of savings can be done because this energy is considered
free for the palm milling process. At the same time, using the fiber and shell as boiler fuel
can help to dispose these bulky materials which can contribute to environmental pollution.
The energy content varies depending on the moisture, residual oil contents and its high
specific energy content. in 2003 a simulation work has been done by Mahlia et al., (Mahlia,
Abdulmuin, Alamsyah, & Mukhlishien, 2003) to develop a steady-space dynamic model for a
palm waste boiler. The solid fuel used was also fiber and shell from palm oil processing.
However, in Mahlia et al. study, moisture content and calorific value of fuel, and air-fuel ratio
are assumed to be constant, while temperature of the boiler is assumed to be proportional
to fuel rate. This is not the case apply for the current simulation study because the ultimate
aim in this simulation work is to study the effect of moisture content, ash content, air flow
rate and temperature on combustion process and flue gas emission. Bignal et al. (Bignal,
Langridge, & Zhou, 2008) has investigated the effect of moisture content of fuel and boiler
operating conditions on pollutant concentrations, and it is suggested that solid fuel should
have low moisture content in order to reduce air pollutants. In another study, Yang et al.
(Yang, Sharifi, & Swithenbank, 2004) has carried out mathematical simulations and
experiments to study the effect of primary air flow rate and moisture level in the fuel on the
combustion process of wood chips and the incineration of simulated municipal solid wastes.
From Yang et al. (Yang, et al., 2004) study, it is found that volatile release and char burning
has been intensified with increasing in the primary air flow rate until a critical point is
reached, and also increase in moisture level in the fuel produces a higher flame front
temperature at low air flow rates. However, in the current simulation, the effect of moisture
level in the fuel on calorific value or mass enthalpy is highlighted, but not on the flame front

temperature. While for air flow rate, its effect on flue gas emission is studied on current
simulation work, which can be compared with study from Yang et al. (Yang, et al., 2004). The
typical values for proximate and ultimate analysis on the dry basis of shell and fiber biomass
feedstock are shown in Table 1.

Theory
Heating value is an important indication for solid fuel, and it can be reported as high heating
value (HHV) or low heating value (LHV). The difference between HHV and LHV is equal to the
heat of vaporization of water formed by combustion of the fuel. The potential energy from
fiber and shell can be obtained by Dulong formula based on ultimate analysis:

From the steam generated amount, the amount of

solid fuel consumed in the boiler can be known. With a known palm oil milling capacity, the
amount of steam needed to generate electricity can be calculated based on the following
equation:
Steam required = Energy required to process 1 ton of FFB Milling capacity Amount of
steam required to produce 1kWh electric
Theoretically, the potential energy conversion from fiber and shell for palm oil mill can be
represented by the following formula:

EP =MfLHVf +MSLHVS (3) where Mf and Ms is the mass composition of fiber

and shell in total solid fuel.
Material and Method
An Overview to Simulation

The software used in the simulation was ASPEN P LU S ( V e r s i on 7 . 1 ) . Th e l a y o u t o f

s i mu l a t i o n method was shown in Figure 1, which was from reactor selection until
gaining the final result of simulation.

Reactor Selection
The unit operation selected in ASPEN PLUS to run the simulation was shown in Figure 2.
Reactor B1 was RYield which represented Reactor Yield, and it was used as non
stoichiometric reactor based on known yield distribution. Reactor B2 was RGibbs which
represented Reactor Gibbs was used for rigorous reaction and multiphase equilibrium based
on Gibbs free energy minimization. As a result of the reaction occurred between the fuel and
air, flue gas that composed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide,
water vapor, nitrogen, sulfur, nitrogen dioxide, nitrogen trioxide, and sulfur dioxide were
produced. Unit operation B3 was the two streams heat exchanger which modeled co- current
or counter current shell and tube heat exchanger. Flue gas with temperature at 800C and
20.27bar was exchanged heat with water at 70C to produce steam with temperature
260.69C. This high pressure and temperature steam was the final product to generate
electricity or for downstream processes usage.

Data Specification and Aspen Simulation

In the simulation work, data and specifications of input material such as mass flow rate,
temperature, pressure, and component composition were entered. During the simulation,
several conditions were studied by varying air flow rate, moisture content of fiber and also
moisture content of shell, ash content of fiber and shell, and also temperature of combustion

reaction. Thus, data specifications and properties for these conditions were explained
separately. Some assumptions were made in the simulation which may affect the accuracy
of the final result. One of them was assuming coal properties for fiber and shell density and
enthalpy because both were nonconventional material that the composition of the material
was unknown. Coal would be the nearest similar material to both fiber and shell in the
property method and models available in ASPEN PLUS as they were all from plant origin and
with wood characteristic. In addition, throughout the simulation, the mill capacity was
assumed to be 30 ton/hour. Moreover, as fiber and shell were nonconventional material,
there were defined by the percentage value of ultimate and proximate analysis from
literature in ASPEN PLUS. However, the sulfur analysis for both fiber and shell were assumed
to have zero value due to its uncommonness and unavailability of data.
Air Flow Rate as Variable
When analyzing the effect of air flow rate on the flue gas composition produced, sensitivity
function in the model analysis tool was activated by varying air flow rate with pre-set range
of limit. Thus, a set of result within the pre-set limit range of air flow rate were generated
and could be analyzed by plotting graph. Table 2 showed the input data for the condition
when air flow rate was set as the variable.

Moisture Content of Fiber/Shell as Variable

Simulation was done to study the effect of varying moisture content of only shell, only fiber
and both on the mass enthalpy produced in the process. When only moisture content of shell
was considered, the stream for fiber was removed and vice versa for fiber case. Air flow rate
in this case was held constant at 57,000 kg/hr. Sensitivity function was applied to flue gas
stream in order to obtain the optimum moisture content value for both fiber and shell.
Moisture content of fiber and shell was varied by changing the value in the proximate
analysis. Suggested moisture content for simulation for fiber was 6 wt%, 19.5 wt%, and 33
wt% while for shell was 5 wt%, 9 wt% and 13 wt%. The result obtained from si mulation was
analyzed by plotting graph of mass enthalpy against moisture content to observe the trend.

Ash Content of Fiber and Shell as Variable

The ash content of fiber and shell were varied to study its effect on gross calorific value or
heating value of the fuel. The ash content value was varied in the ultimate analysis of both
fiber and shell to change the composition of the raw material input while other parameters

held constant. Ash content effect on heating value was studied separately for fiber and shell,
but not in combination of both fiber and shell condition. Input data was tabulated as shown
in Table 3.

Temperature of Combustion Process as Variable

Temperature of the combustion process was altered in reactor B2 shown in Figure 5.2 to
study its effect on the gas emission. A range of temperature from 600C to 1200C was
chosen as conventional combustion process produced flue gas at temperature 800C. Thus,
simulation result of flue gas component flow rate with varying temperature at 600C, 800C,
1000C, and 1200C was obtained. A graph about mass flow rate of flue gas emission
against the temperature of the combustion process was plotted, and the trend was analyzed
in result and discussion section. During the simulation of studying temperature effect, other
parameters were held constant. Input data for simulation run with different temperature
value was tabulated in Table 4. It is noted that other input data entered in the proximate and
ultimate analysis for fiber and shell, as well as the properties of water were assumed to be
constant as listed in Table 1.

Results and Discussion

Summary of Simulation Results
For a palm oil mill with the capacity of 30 tons, FFB/hr, the minimum steam required for
palm oil process, and electricity was 18 ton/hr. In this report; three types of solid fuel feed
are used in the simulation, which is a mixture of 70% fiber and 30% shell, 100% fiber, and
100% shell. Besides, the air flow rate is first assumed to be 57000 kg/hr and the amount of
air flow rate will be verified in the section 4.2. From the calculation, the input of solid fuel for

each set of simulation is shown as Table 5.

From the calculation, it shows that solid fuel consumed in simulation set 2 is higher than set
1 and set 3. This is because the fiber has lower heating value/calorific value compared to the
shell, and this can be proven from the simulation results.

Figure 3 shows the calorific value of the solid fuel determined by computer simulation. From
the results obtained, it is obviously shown that shell has the highest calori fic value, and the
fiber has lowest heating value. Meanwhile, the simulation set 1, which comprised of solid
fuel mixture, has moderate heating value. The high calorific value of shell can be due to the
low moisture content. Besides, there are many similar researches, which were proven that

moisture content in the shell is usually much lower than fiber and eventually has higher
calorific value (Li, Yin, Zhang, Liu, & Yan, 2009; Olufayo, 1989; Werther, Saenger, Hartge,
Ogada, & Siagi, 2000). Experimentally, the calorific value for palm waste is in the range of
18MJ/hr to 20MJ/hr (Yusoff, 2004). The results obtained from the simulation are obviously
higher than the experimental value. This may due to the limitation of software Aspen Plus
used in this report. In the nutshell, it is suggested that the shell which has the highest
calorific value is the most suitable solid fuel for combustion. However, the amount of shell
produced for a typical palm oil mill is 60kg/hr for every 1ton FFB/hr. This amount is not
enough to generate steam for whole plant. Thus, it is suggested that solid fuel with the fibershell mixture is the better solution. The composition of flue gas is analyzed in this report
with the aid of computer simulation. Figure 4 shows the major gas constituent in the flue gas
for different type of solid fuel. From the results obtained, the CO 2 is the major component in
the flue gas and followed by SO2, NOX. Meanwhile, the simulation results show that there is
no CO gas emission. This is due to the complete combustion of solid fuel in the excess air,
and all the carbon are converted to CO2. Besides, the results show that the amount of NO3
is extremely small and can be negligible and the NO is the majority of NO X. According to the
research, the NOX are predominantly NO and NO2, in which NO is the 95% oftotalNOX
(Ganapathy,2003).

When compare the gas emission among the solid fuel, solid fuel with fiber solely has the
highest CO2 and SO2 emission. On the other hand, the solid fuel with shell solely has the
highest NOX emission. Meanwhile, the solid fuel consists of fiber-shell mixture has moderate
emission for all gases. This obviously showed that shell which has the highest calorific value
is not suitable to become the only solid fuel in the combustion. In order to reduce the
emission, the solid fuel should comprise of both fiber and shell. A table that summarized the
results of gas emission for all types of solid fuel showed as below.

Effect of Air Flow Rate to the Composition of Flue Gas

In order to avoid emission of CO, the solid fuel must be combusted in the condition of excess
air. In this report, the air flow rate is varying in the range from 20000 kg/hr to 40000 kg/hr to
determine the minimum air required and investigate the effect of air flow rate to the
emission. Theoretically, the minimum air required for complete combustion can be
determined by observing the emission of CO and CO2. Figure 5 shows the amount of CO and
CO2 released when burning of fiber-shell mixture at different air flow rate. From the results
obtained, the amount of CO released is decreasing with the increase of air flow rate while
the amount of CO2 is directly proportional to the air flow rate. The present of CO at the front
part of the graph shows the insufficiency of oxygen in reaction. However, both graphs are
become flat when the air flow rate increases to 24827 kg/hr. This is because complete
combustion has occurred at the air flow rate of 24827 kg/hr. At this point, all carbons in the
solid fuel are converted into CO2 and further increment in air flow rate will not increase the
amount of CO2 released. Hence, the air flow rate required for fiber-shell solid fuel with the
mill capacity 30 tons FFB/hr is 24827kg/hr. The effect of combustion in the excess air will be
analyzed by observing the emission of SO2 and NOX.

From the results showed in Figure 6, the emission of SO2 has the similar trend with CO2. The
amount of SO2 is increasing sharply until the point of minimum air flow rate, and it becomes
constant under the condition of complete combustion. For the emission of NO X, the trend
was slightly different with the gases previously and the amount of NO X released is relatively
small, especially the emission of NO3. According to the results, the NOX starts to release
when there is sufficient for oxygen present, and its amount is increasing in the condition of
excess air.

The trend of NOX emission can be explained through the theory of NOX formation in
literature. According to Ganapathy, (Ganapathy, 2003) NOX are produced during the
combustion of solid fuel through the oxidation of atmospheric nitrogen and fuel-bound
nitrogen. These sources produce three kinds of NOX, which is fuel NOX, prompt NOX, and
thermal NOX. The fuel NOX is generated when nitrogen in fuel combines with oxygen in
combustion. This type of NOX is insensitive to flame temperature but is influenced by
oxygen. Thus, when there is sufficient oxygen present, the nitrogen bound in solid fuel will
turn into NOX and the amount of fuel NOX eventually becomes constant at certain air flow
rate. On the other hand, the thermal NOX produced will not become constant when the air
flow rate increasing. This is because the thermal NOX is produced when atmospheric
nitrogen combines with oxygen under intensive heat. When there is a rise in air flow rate,
the amount of NOX generated will be increased exponentially. Hence, the mass flow rate of
NO, NO2, and NO3 in the figure 7 increase exponentially when the air flow rate is increasing.
According to the industry practice, the 30% excess air is applied to the solid fuel
combustion. Thus, when 30% excess air is applied to the simulation, the composition of each
gas is shown as table 7.

Comparing the reading in Table 7 and 8, the amount of CO2 and SO2 released are same.
However, the amount of NOX released in 30% excess air is significantly reduced. In short,
the solid fuel which consists of solid only has the best performance in 30% excess air and
the solid fuel which comprises fiber-shell mixture has moderate gases emission. Hence, it is
suggested that the solid fuel in palm oil mill should be comprised of fiber-shell mixture or
shell only.

Effect of Moisture Content to the Heating Value and Heat Duty of Boiler
The proxi mate analysis of fi ber and shell is significantly different. The fiber has the typical
moisture content in the range of 6% to 33% while it is 5% to 13% for the shell (Li, et al.,
2009). As a result, the effect of moisture content to the heat of combustion is investigated in
this report. Table 9 shows the summarized of each trial in the simulation.

From results in Figure 8, the mass enthalpy is directly proportional to the moisture content.
As mention previously, the present of moisture content in solid fuel eventually decreases the
heating value. The computer simulation failed to perform the effect of moisture content to
heating value can be due to the limitation of Aspen Plus. The computer simulation is
suggested alter other properties on solid fuel in order to get the constant heating value for
the solid fuel. However, the effect of moisture content to low combustion efficient can be
observed from the Figure 9 which shows the relationship between the moisture content and
heat duty of reactor.

From the graph plotted, the heat duty of reactor is directly proportional to the moisture
content. When the moisture content is high, the reactor has to work more to provide
sufficient energy for combustion. Again, the results show that solid fuel with fiber only is not
environmental and economically friendly. The solid fuel used in the boiler should be shell or
fiber- shell mixture. Figure 10 shows the heat duty of reactor by using fiber-shell mixture as
solid fuel.

From the graph plotted in Figure 10, it shows that the effect of fiber moisture is more
significant compared to the shell. This may be due to the high moisture content of fiber
which required extra energy to vaporized water in the solid fuel. In short, the fiber- shell
mixtures are better than fiber only. Therefore, the fiber-shell solid fuel, which has the
moisture content similar with trial 4 to 6 is suggested. The results may slightly deviate from
the experimental value due to the assumption Aspen Plus.

Effect of Ash Content to the Heating Value

Ash content is referring to the mass fraction of incombustible material in solid fuel. It was
found that the ash is the heat sink in the same way as moisture, lowering combustion
efficiency (Ciolkosz, 2010). Besides, the similar literature showed that systems that are
designed to combust wood can be overwhelmed by the volume of ash if other biofuels are
used, which can reduce the combustion efficiency or clog the ash handling mechanisms
(Pritchard, 2002). Thus, the relationship between heating value of solid fuel and ash content
is the study to predict the effect to combustion efficiency. Table 10 shows the summarized of
each trial in the simulation.

From the results present in Figure 11, the heating value of solid fuel is inversely proportional
to the ash content. When there is high ash in the solid fuel, the heat released from the
combustion will decrease. This is because the heat of combustion for a given fuel is mostly a
function of the fuels chemical composition.

Thus, more incombustible ash contained in a specific amount of solid fuel is eventually
decreasing the heat of combustion and yield low combustion efficiency. In terms of heat
duty, the heat duty for the furnace will be lower at high ash content (Figure 12). This is
because less work is done by the furnace to combust the solid fuel which has the high
volume of incombustible material.

Effect of Temperature to Gas Emission

As discussed in section 4.2, the NOX emission will not be constant with the increasing of air
flow rate due to the thermal NO . However, Ganapathy
X
(Ganapathy, 2003) proposed that the formation of
thermal NOX increase exponentially with the increase in operating temperature because it is
a function of flame temperature. For the natural gas in 15% excess air, it was found that
each 37.78oC increase in combustion temperature will increase the flame temperature by
18.33oC. So, the operating temperature is the study in this section to investigate the effect
of temperature to NOX and determine the optimal operating temperature. The temperature
in the furnace is varying from 600oC to 1200oC and the NOX released is shown in Figure 13

and 14.

From the results in Figure 13 and 14, the amount of NOX released is exponentially increased
to the increase of operating temperature. The emission is increasing sharply at higher
temperature (1000oC). According to the information provided by Ciolkosz (Ciolkosz, 2010),
the operating temperature of furnace should not over 972oC in order to regulate to NO X
emission. Therefore, the assumption of 800oC operating temperature in this report is
acceptable.
CONCLUSION
From the results obtained from computer simulation, the mixture of fiber-shell solid fuel is
better compared to the solid fuel with fiber only. The shell which has the highest heating
value and lower emission cannot be used as the only fuel in combustion because the typical
amount of shell produced is unable to sustain whole mill. Moreover, the air flow rate should
be controlled and the emission at 30% excess air is acceptable. Furthermore, the moisture
content is determined lower the combustion efficiency, and the suggested moisture content
of fiber and shell is 6%-19.5% and 5%-13%, respecti vel y. Last but not least, the operating
temperature should not exceed 972oC as it will promote the NO X emission.
Due to the limitation of Aspen Plus, the effect of moisture content on heating value and the
tolerable ash content is unable to identify. However, it is suggested that heating value is

inversely proportional to moisture content and the ash content. In order to improve the
findings in the future, other simulation software, which is purposely designed for combustion
or design of boiler, can replace the Aspen Plus in order to get an accurate result. For future
research purpose, ASPEN PLUS is suggested to be replaced by other computer simulation
software which is design for boiler.
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