Sustainable energy generation from the pyrolysis of coconut biomass

Problem statement

The 21st-century global community faces challenges resulting from a high population boom with increased industrial and commercial activities translating into high energy demand, which results in fossil fuel depletion, increased environmental pollution, global warming, and healthy lifestyle deterioration. This energy crisis led to the search for alternative energy generation sources to sustainably cater to the global energy demand.

Executive summary

Agricultural wastes are regarded as a viable energy generation source to meet the growing demands of energy consumption and assuage fossil fuel depletion and environmental degradation. Biomass pyrolysis has proven to be a viable energy conversion process over the last decade due to its low carbon footprint on the environment. The large cultivation and expansion of coconut contributes to the higher generation of coconut waste biomass such as coconut husk, shell, frond, fiber, and pulp. This biomass waste can be used for pyrolytic process of energy generation.

Technology description

Coconut waste is one of the most abundant biomasses found in over 90 countries, with a global production of 62.5 million tons per year. Coconut waste biomass is cheap, generates low carbon emissions and consists of rigid polymer structures, including cellulose, lignin and hemicellulose. Due to its high lignin content, coconut shell has the highest biomass quality of all agricultural biomasses, such as bagasse, rice husk, coconut frond, and leaves.
The pyrolysis of coconut biomass has been used to produce several pyrolytic products that have great potential industrially, commercially and economically. Pyrolytic products obtained from coconut biomass pyrolysis and some of their respective applications include biochar from coconut shells used as carbon sorbents; bio-oil from coconut fibre and shell used as diesel fuel; coconut shell for the production crude oil; extraction of phenol from coconut shell bio-oil; coconut pith biochars for mercury adsorption; and syngas production from coconut shell pyrolysis.
Of all the methods of energy conversion, pyrolysis is best suited due to high conversion efficiency, energy efficiency, and low cost. Coconut shell is more commonly used as a feedstock for biomass pyrolysis than other coconut residues, such as coconut husk, frond, leaf, and pulp. This may be attributed to the abundance of coconut shell since it constitutes a larger part of the coconut fruit, and the shell’s balanced properties as moisture content, volatile matter, fixed carbon and ash content making it a suitable feedstock for biomass pyrolysis. The utilisation of coconut biomass as an alternative energy resource provides an economically viable means of safe disposal.

Market deployment considerations

Environmental considerations