Thermal behaviour of slurry prepared from clermont bituminous coal and oil palm empty fruit bunch bio-oil

Investigation on the pyrolysis behaviour of coal-biooil slurry (CBS) fuel prepared at different ratios (100:0; 70:30; 60:40;0: 100) were conducted using a Thermogravimetric Analyzer (TGA). The selected coal sample was Clermont bituminous coal (Australia), while Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) was used as source of bio-oil that was thermally converted by means of pyrolysis. Thermal degradation of CBS fuel was performed in an inert atmosphere (50mL/min nitrogen) under non-isothermal conditions from room temperature to 1000°C at heating rate of 10°C/min. The proportions of CBS fuel at 70:30 and 60:40 blends were observed to have influenced the fuel properties of the slurry. The addition of bio-oil will shift the temperature region towards early devolatilization. Meanwhile, the thermal profiles of the blends, showed potential trends that followed the characteristics of an ideal slurry fuel where highest degradation rate was found at the blend ratio of 60:40 biooil/coal. These findings can be useful to the development of a slurry fuel technology for application in the vast existing conventional power plants.