Improvement of Bio-oil Production System by Using Spray Condenser: Investigation of Yields, Properties and Production Cost
Abstract This article presented an improvement of bio-oil production system by using the spray condenser, which was developed from previous work. Napier grasses (NG), sugarcane leaves (SL) and rubber leaves (RL) were used as raw material in order to produce as bio-oil. The direct contact heat exchanger called conventional condenser and indirect contact heat exchanger called spray condenser were employed while the bio-oil and the ethanol were also applied as absorber in the spray condenser. The circulating fluidized bed reactor was employed to produce the bio-oil by using fast pyrolysis process. The condition generating the highest yield of the bio-oil production whether the conventional condenser or the spray condenser was 60 kg/hr of feed rate and 480°C of bed temperature. From the result of the bio-oil production, it was found that the highest yields of bio-oil production from NG, SL and RL using conventional condenser were 43.73 %wt, 49.47 %wt and 37.00 %wt, respectively. The highest yield of bio-oil production from NG, SL and RL performing on spray condenser and the using of ethanol as absorber were 55.67 %wt, 62.53 %wt and 44.60 %wt, respectively while the highest yield of bio-oil production from RL performing on spray condenser and the using of bio-oil as absorber was 44.60 %wt. The using of the spray condenser and using of the ethanol as absorber can improve the properties of bio-oil such as heating value and can also increase yield of bio-oil, but the viscosity of bio-oil was increased. Besides, the using of spray condenser can increase the efficiency of energy conversion and can decrease the cost production of bio-oil production, it can also solve the problem about the dirty from the volatile or droplet in the bio-oil that was adhesive in the recirculating blower in case of the system using returned NGC to bio-oil production process.
