Scrutinizing the Prospect of Cerbera manghas Seed and Its De-oiled Cake for a Fuel: Physicochemical Properties and Thermal Behavior

摘要

Biomass is a renewable fuel derived from biological substances such as crops, waste, animals, and residues, which has been ranked as the third-largest source of energy in the world. One of the biological materials that potential as biomass fuel from the perspective of the abundance is Cerbera manghas, which is a mangrove plant, poisonous, and therefore it does not compete with the needs of the foods. This research aims to study the physicochemical properties and thermal characteristics of Cerbera manghas seed and its de-oiled cake. The seed of Cerbera manghas samples is dried in an oven at 80°C for 4 h. The de-oiled cake is obtained by the pressing of the seed at 33.81 N/m~2 to release its oil content. The higher heating values (HHVs) of the seed and de-oiled cake are examined by using an adiabatic bomb calorimeter. Physical properties are evaluated by proximate analysis test to comprehend the respective moisture (M), volatile matter (VM), fixed carbon (FC), and ash (A) content. The chemical properties, especially C, H, O, N, and S, are analyzed by the ultimate analysis test. The thermal behavior of the seed and de-oiled cake are studied by a thermal analyzer. It can be reported that the seed and de-oiled cake are dominated by volatile matters, which are 91.41 and 84.93%, respectively, and they have HHVs of 32.46 MJ/kg for seed and 27.95 MJ/kg for de-oiled cake. Their chemical properties are dominated by 78.01% carbon for the seed and 67.34% carbon for the de-oiled cake. From the thermal test under the inert atmosphere, it was known that they have the temperature of active pyrolysis zone at around 150 until 500°C, and resulted in relatively low residuals at the end of the pyrolysis process those are 8.22% for the seed and 15.43% for the de-oiled cake. These overall results strengthened the potential of Cerbera manghas seed and its de-oiled cake being the fuel feedstock.