Resumen
Biomass is one of the promising renewable energy to convert waste products into fuels and energy. The conversion of biomass into bio-oil through fast pyrolysis as a carbon-based liquid posed several issues due to the high presence of moisture and oxygen content in the biomass. Torrefaction process is a pre-treatment for biomass to remove water and caused partial degradation in lignocellulosic components which increased the carbon content. Empty fruit bunch (EFB) as biomass source was selected due to its low cost and wide availability in Malaysia. Calcium based catalysts were mostly proven to improve the bio-oil properties during the pyrolysis process such as oil yield and carbon content. The objective of this study was to utilize waste egg-shells as an alternative calcium-based catalyst, whereby the effects would be investigated during the torrefaction of EFB. The EFB samples were torrefied at temperatures of 200 - 300oC, a residence time from 30 ? 90mins, along with the catalyst loading of 0 ? 15wt% whereby the interactive effects of these three parameters would be investigated. All torrefied samples were characterized under analytical studies such as SEM-EDX, TGA, CHNS, and XRD. Temperature had the most significant effect in the improvement efforts for torrefaction compared to catalyst amount and residence time. Furthermore, the biomass has improved properties at higher temperatures, i.e. 250oC whereby the heating values, mass, and energy yield showed an increment. The presence of waste eggshell was able to show changes in the biomass composition, which recommends further detailed study on catalytic torrefaction to improve biomass pyrolysis and bio-oil properties.