Process hazard analysis of gasification process by using oil palm empty fruit bunch as feedstock

Production of hydrogen rich gas from the gasification of biomass to replace fossil fuels has become a common interest worldwide. One of the potential biomass in Malaysia to produce hydrogen rich gas is empty fruit bunch (EFB) from oil palm (Elaeis guineensis). Numerous researchers have carried out studies on hydrogen production using biomass but there are limited researches on the hazards analysis incorporated in the gasification process of EFB. This paper presents the hazards identification and risk reduction of the gasification process by using EFB as a feedstock. The research aims to incorporate safety needs to the gasification process of EFB for safe operation in the future. The process hazards analysis has been carried out on process unit namely fire burner, feeding hopper, fluidised bed reactor and cyclone. The potential hazard, possible causes, risk and consequences of the process unit were analysed. Based on the analysis, the major hazards identified in the process are overpressure and over temperature followed by the release of hydrogen gases. Safe by design is the most effective risk reduction strategy since it can eliminate the hazards from the source by having inherently safer design of the hydrogen process plant

Hydrogen gas production from gasification of oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) in a fluidized bed reactor

Malaysia is one of the largest producers of palm oil and this industry plays an important role in Malaysia economic growth. As this industry grows larger, a significant amount of oil palm waste is generated, creating the problem of overloading biomass waste. Since the oil palm waste has many significant uses such as empty fruit bunches (EFB), the interest in production of hydrogen gas as the renewable energy from EFB also increases. The most common and favorable thermochemical processes to produce the hydrogen gas is gasification process in fluidized bed reactor. Regardless of tremendous experimental studies done on effectiveness of using EFB for production of hydrogen, the process implementation in industry is still discouraging. This is due to lack of proven technology and high capital cost of investment. In this study, a computational modeling was developed for EFB gasification in fluidized bed gasifier using the ASPEN PLUS simulator (v. 8.8) to optimize the gasification temperature, pressure and to study the different of chemical behavior. The results indicated that increase in temperature will increases the production of hydrogen and enhances carbon conversion efficiency. The optimum temperature and pressure was 850 °C and 1.035 bar respectively. The result shows that the char was removed significantly after several gas cleaning process. The final product for purified hydrogen gas is 14.5 kg/hr which is around 21% of hydrogen yield. Based on the result, it indicates that EFB has a potential to be used as a source of energy in a future

Process development of oil palm empty fruit bunch gasification by using fluidised bed reactor for hydrogen gas production

Hydrogen can store and deliver usable energy, but it does not typically exist by itself in nature and must be produced from compounds that contain it such as biomass. Hydrogen can be used as fuel which produce from gasification process that used renewable sources as feedstock. Large amount of empty fruit bunch (EFB) has been produced in Malaysia and yet has no specific used in large quantity and it is being incinerated or used as landfill material dumped in the plantation. These situations have led to increased CO2 and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the atmosphere. During preliminary study, it shows that there are very limited studies being done in the process design development of the hydrogen production by using EFB from oil palm. Despite of tremendous experimental studies done on the effectiveness of using EFB for production of hydrogen, the process implementation in industry is still discouraging. This is due to lack of proven technology and high capital cost of investment. In this study, the drying, gasification and purification unit operations were modelled in Aspen Plus simulator for production of pure hydrogen gas and char was removed significantly after several gas cleaning processes. The final product for purified hydrogen gas is 12.3 t/h which is 16.3 % of hydrogen gas produced from the total EFB feedstock. Based on the result, the optimum temperature and pressure for gasification process is 850 °C and 1 atm respectively. Since, there is not much research have been carried out on process design of hydrogen production process by using EFB as feedstock, the understanding towards this topic can be prolonged

Assessment Model for Construct Occupational Accident Using Confirmatory Factor Analysis

The objective of this paper is to assess the occupational accident model construct using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The data for the study were obtained from the questionnaire survey using Likert scale rated 1 to 10 on 450 workers at the oil and gas terminal in Terengganu. CFA was used to verify the fitness of measurement model construct of occupational accident. A total of 53 significant items for the overall variables of occupational accident input were studied. In conclusion, all the variables of occupational accident construct such as engineering, human, and technical factors comply with the requirements of dimensions, validity, and reliability of the CFA requirement

Effect of particle size on the explosive characteristics of grain (wheat) starch in a closed cylindrical vessel

Wheat starch dust explosion poses a serious threat to food processing and handling industries. This study attempts to show the influence of particle size on some explosive characteristics of wheat starch dust. The maximum pressure, maximum rate of pressure rises, and severity factor index were determined in relation to four different particle sizes of wheat starch dust of 38 µm, 45 µm, 53 µm and 71 µm using the 1.2 L Hartmann explosion tube. The result of proximate and elemental analysis conducted showed the sample has a moisture content of 2.1 %, volatile content of 93.3 % and a calorific value of 15,777.2 J/g. The carbon content of the sample was 40 % and the hydrogen content 6.9 %. The result of the explosive parameter tests showed that the maximum explosion pressure of the wheat starch dust sample increased with decreasing particle size with the highest recorded value of 735 kPa for the particle size of 38 µm

Hydrogen and value-added liquid fuel generation from pyrolysis-catalytic steam reforming conditions of microplastics waste dissolved in phenol over bifunctional Ni-Pt supported on Ti-Al nanocatalysts

This research looks at the potential of utilizing microplastics waste (MPW) found in oceans and soil as a source of liquid fuel. A significant portion of this pollutant is presently untreated and ends up in landfills, exacerbating the worldwide issue of marine and land pollution. Pyrolysis is a tertiary recycling process that is presented as a solution in the presence of a catalyst. This study aimed to develop bifunctional Ni-Pt nanocatalysts supported on TiO2 and Al2O3 for hydrogen and valued fuels generation from pyrolysis-catalytic steam reforming conditions of microplastics waste dissolved in phenol. The chemical and physical properties of nanocatalysts were characterized by BET, XRD, TEM, FESEM, FTIR, H2-TPR, CO2-TPD, NH3-TPD, TGA, ICP and CHNS. It was found that the introduction of a small portion of Pt (2 wt%) metal to the Ni/Ti-Al nanocatalyst was found to significantly enhance the reducibility, acidity, basicity nanocatalyst performance and stability. C–O(H), C[dbnd]C–C, and C–O were the major functional clusters of the liquid yields surveyed from the FTIR spectrums during pyrolysis. A valuable liquid product such as trimethyl-(2-trimethylsilylphenyl)silane, cyclohexane-1,3-dione, 2-allylaminomethylene-5,5-dimethyl-, bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (BEHP), etc. compounds were produced from the pyrolysis-catalytic steam reforming reaction. This sight is a crucial indication of utilizing microplastics pollution for value-added fuel production and decreasing the risk threats of marine life

Current status of industrial accident learning in Malaysia

The accident rate in Malaysia is decreasing; however, statistically it is still high if compared with other developing nations. One of the reasons why accidents keep on happening is due to poor learning from accidents. This paper discusses the level of accident learning from accident reports submitted to the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) Malaysia and the Society Security Organization (SOCSO) Malaysia involving 1,291 accident cases. Based on the quality and completeness of accident reports, their levels of learning were classified into five accident causation levels which are no, limited, fair, good and excellent learning

Statistical analysis of metalworking accidents within small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are known to be one of the major contributors to the national economy. However, in terms of occupational safety and health (OSH) implementation and performance, these SMEs, especially in the metalworking sector have yet to meet the necessary standard. This paper discusses the statistical analysis of accidents in metalworking industry by using accident reports submitted to the Department of Safety and Health (DOSH) and Social Security Organization (SOCSO) which involved 1635 accident cases. The main objective is to identify the real causes of accidents and recommend an appropriate action plan for accidents prevention at the workplace

Structural rearrangement of mesostructured silica nanoparticles incorporated with ZnO catalyst and its photoactivity: effect of alkaline aqueous electrolyte concentration

ZnO-incorporated mesostructured silica nanoparticles (MSN) catalysts (ZM) were prepared by the introduction of Zn ions into the framework of MSN via a simple electrochemical system in the presence of various concentrations of NH4OH aqueous solution. The physicochemical properties of the catalysts were studied by XRD, 29Si MAS NMR, nitrogen adsorption-desorption, FE-SEM, TEM, FTIR, and photoluminescence spectroscopy. Characterization results demonstrated that the alkaline aqueous electrolyte simply generated abundant silanol groups on the surface of the catalysts as a consequence of desilication to form the hierarchical-like structure of the MSN. Subsequent restructuring of the silica network by the creation of oxygen vacancies and formation of Si-O-Zn during the electrolysis, as well as formation of new Si-O-Si bonds during calcination seemed to be the main factors that enhanced the catalytic performance of photodecolorization of methyl orange. A ZM prepared in the presence of 1.0 M NH4OH (ZM-1.0) was determined to be the most effective catalyst. The catalyst displays a higher first-order kinetics rate of 3.87 × 10-1 h-1 than unsupported ZnO (1.13 × 10-1 h-1) that prepared under the same conditions in the absence of MSN. The experiment on effect of scavengers showed that hydroxyl radicals generated from the three main sources; reduced O2 at the conduction band, decomposed water at the valence band and irradiated H2O2 in the solution, are key factors that influenced the reaction. It is also noted that the recycled ZM-1.0 catalyst maintained its activity up to five runs without serious catalyst deactivation

Risk assessment framework and criteria for major accidental release to the environment in Malaysia

Events which could be considered a "major accident to the environment" are very diverse in nature. The UK Department of the Environment (DoE) has published a "Green Book" giving the definitions of such events. UK AEA Technology has attempted to define tolerability criteria for accidents to the environment in terms of an environmental severity index (ESI) which is the ratio of the severity of the accident to that of the most appropriate reference accident from the DoE Green Book. These criteria were proposed only for releases to rivers. This paper describes the development of risk assessment framework based on an environmental risk index (ERI) proposed (in tradition of the ICI Mond Index method for flammable hazards). The ERI is a measure of the total severity and probability of a wide range of possible environmental consequences which could result from any particular release. The tolerability criteria developed for the ESI method can also be used with the ERI. The ERI method is designed to facilitate rapid screening of the environmental risks from a variety of release scenarios. The effects of various methods for prevention and mitigation of the release can be taken into account. The framework will be described with reference to a hypothetical case study involving an accidental release of a pesticide into the River Don in Sheffield from a manufacturing plant. This has led to a number of improvements to the method, including a revision of the tolerability criteria proposed by AEA Technology. As for Malaysia, a similar approach could be proposed and adopted, as necessary