Energy Potential of Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) Fiber from Subsequent Cultivation of Volvariella volvacea (Bull.) Singer

Noor Azrimi Umor, Sumaiyah Abdullah, Azhar Mohamad, Shahrul Bin Ismail, Siti Izera Ismail and Azizah Misran
Additional contact information
Noor Azrimi Umor: Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Malaysia
Sumaiyah Abdullah: Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Malaysia
Azhar Mohamad: Malaysian Nuclear Agency, Bangi, Kajang 43000, Malaysia
Shahrul Bin Ismail: Faculty of Ocean Engineering Technology and Informatics, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Nerus 21030, Malaysia
Siti Izera Ismail: Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Malaysia
Azizah Misran: Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Malaysia

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 23, 1-15

Abstract: EFB and EFB-based mushroom compost (SMC) from Volvariella volvacea cultivation is a promising energy feedstock because it has adequate nutrient quality. The biochemical methane potential (BMP) and calorific value (CV) of this biomass are investigated. Other analyses such as proximate, compositional, and final analysis; thermogravimetric analysis (TGA); and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) are also performed. The biomass samples consist of two types of EFB, namely fibers (F) and pellets (P) and SMC from the subsequent cultivation of Volvariella volvacea , with samples FS and PS from the first cultivation and FS2 and PS2 from the second cultivation. P produces the highest biological efficiency (BE) of 28% compared to 9.83% for F. Subsequent cultivation with FS and PS then produces only 2.9 and 6.83% of BE. A higher amount of methane is measured in samples P and PS2, while better biodegradability is observed in PS2 and FS2, suggesting that subsequent cultivation is a good pretreatment of the substrate for anaerobic digestion (AD). CV is highest in F (20.57 MJ/kg), followed by P (19.06 MJ/kg), which is comparable to commercial wood pellet. Samples F, FS, and FS2 have higher ash content, which is due to higher mineral content. The cellulose composition is reduced to almost 50% during cultivation due to fungal metabolism, which is also evidenced by FTIR analysis. TGA analysis revealed that EFB-based SMC exhibits higher weight loss during combustion compared to EFB, which reduces its thermal properties. SMC of EFB is a high potential biomethane feedstock, but not recommended as a fuel pellet.

Keywords: empty fruit bunch; spent mushroom compost; bioenergy; biomass pellet; biomethane (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/23/13008/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/23/13008/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:23:p:13008-:d:686816

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().