Distillation study of light bio-oil from palm fresh fruit pyrolysis for enhanced bio-gasoline characteristics through blending with gasohol E85

Abstract

• Light bio-oil is distilled from PLP derived from PFF pyrolysis at 550 °C. • LBO, comprising mainly C6-C11 aliphatic compounds with C8 and C9 as the most prevalent, has a heating value of 42 MJ/kg. • At 550 °C for 360 min, a maximum total bio-oil yield of 36. 7 % and LBO fraction of 20.4 % were achieved. • Blending LBO with gasohol E85 at a 60:40 ratio produces fuel that meets gasoline standards, with a heating value of 36 MJ/kg. The increasing demand for renewable energy sources highlights the importance of pyrolysis as a sustainable method for converting biomass into valuable products. In this study, palm fresh fruit was pyrolyzed in a 120 L batch-type reactor at 450, 550, 650, and 700 °C at a heating rate of 2–5 °C/min. The production of pyrolysis liquid product (PLP) yie ld is 57.50 %, 62.88 %, 52.53 %, and 47.77 %, respectively. The pyrolysis at 550 °C shows a 62.88 % yield of PLP, 10.27 % biochar, and 26.85 % pyrolysis gases. As the pyrolysis temperature increased, the gas yield slightly increased, whereas the biochar yield decreased. The PLP was distilled at 200 °C to separate into light bio-oil (LBO), wood vinegar (WV), and heavy bio-oil (HBO), yielding 11.91 % LBO, 41.60 % WV, and 46.45 % HBO. The GC–MS of LBO showed that the five components with the highest peak intensities were 1-octene, octane, 1-nonene, nonane, and 1-decene, with respective area percentages of 14.31 %, 8.3 9 %, 18.26 %, 8.01 %, and 8.05 %. The ratios of the blended LBO with gasohol E85 were 70:30, 60:40, and 50:50. The properties of the blended LBO were determined using TGA and a standard test method for distillation. Blending LBO with gasohol E85 in a 60:40 ratio produced fuel that met the gasoline standards for distillation volume fractions. The resulting fuel exhibited a heating value of 36 MJ/kg, which was 35 % higher than that of gasohol E85, highlighting the potential of LBO as a high-quality biofuel and its contribution to renewable energy development.