Palm Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB)

Understanding the properties of one of the most abundant fuels in South East Asia

There are several types of biomass available from palm oil plantations and palm oil process: the clearing of old palm oil trees, empty fruit bunches (EFB’s), mesocap fiber, palm kernel shells (PKS), and palm kernel cakes (PKC) which is less widely used.

EFB are the main source of biomass that could be utilized by the power plants as this is more readily available in the market. Many plantations use a small amount for their own internal use, but a large portion is put aside, either biodegrading into compost, or at times burnt to avoid space loss by storage. Therefore, there is a substantial amount of EFB left unused.

Such an important amount of feedstock for power generation represents a very attractive potential but its utilization has to be cautious. Indeed, several plants using Palm EFB as main biomass fuel have experienced operation losses due to lower electricity production than expected, high wear and tear on moving part in contact with EFB, incomplete combustion…

Each fuel has its own chemical and physical properties that need to be carefully understood in order to develop adapted design for feeding and combustion. Palm EFB is no exception and an especially difficult fuel as you can see in the results of the comparison with common fuels.

After the study of the properties of the Palm EFB in terms of fouling, sintering and corrosion, DPCleanTech has developed a specific design for this type of residue, based on proven solutions implemented for straw fired boiler. If you want to know more about DPCleanTech solution for EFB, do not hesitate to contact us!