| Summary: | The palm oil industry is one of the most important agro-based industries in Malaysia, with more than 400 palm oil mills nationwide. These mills are generally self-sustained in energy by converting empty fruit bunch (EFB), palm mesocarp fibre (PMF) and palm kernel shell (PKS), into energy. However, palm fuel burned in boilers have caused severe air pollution problems due to improper boiler operation and inefficient air pollution control systems. This results in emission of bottom ash particulates from multicyclone and electrostatic precipitator (ESP) hopper after combustion. This paper discusses the characteristics of palm fuel, namely PMF, PKS and EFB, based on proximate analysis, gross calorific value, ultimate analysis and element composition. Morphology of bottom ash emitted from multicyclone and ESP was also examined using scanning electron microscope (SEM). EFB was found to have the ` highest moisture content of 63.1% among others, while mixture of PMF and PKS had the highest volatile matter of 54.5% and fixed carbon of 18.5%. PMF has the highest calorific value of 2993 kcals/kg among others. The bottom ash from multicyclone and ESP exhibited particulate sizes ranging from 18.4 to 68 µm and 10.9 to 44.6 µm, respectively. These were considered as preliminary results which require further future research. The outcomes of this study are useful for mitigation of fine particulate emission from air pollution control system in the palm oil mill. © 2024 American Institute of Physics Inc.. All rights reserved.
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