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Innovative Steam Drying of Empty Fruit Bunch with

High Energy Efficiency
a a a
Muhammad Aziz , Takuya Oda & Takao Kashiwagi
a
Solutions Research Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
Accepted author version posted online: 30 Oct 2014.Published online: 22 Jan 2015.

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To cite this article: Muhammad Aziz, Takuya Oda & Takao Kashiwagi (2015) Innovative Steam Drying of Empty Fruit Bunch
with High Energy Efficiency, Drying Technology: An International Journal, 33:4, 395-405, DOI: 10.1080/07373937.2014.970257

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 Drying Technology, 33: 395–405, 2015
Copyright # 2015 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 0737-3937 print=1532-2300 online
DOI: 10.1080/07373937.2014.970257

Innovative Steam Drying of Empty Fruit Bunch with High

Energy Efficiency
Muhammad Aziz, Takuya Oda, and Takao Kashiwagi
Solutions Research Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan

and unsaturated oils.[3] From the total weight of fresh fruit

Empty fruit bunch (EFB) is one of the solid wastes from crude
palm oil mills and has the lowest value for utilization compared to
other solid wastes. To achieve an efficient utilization of EFB, drying
is considered the first crucial process due to the high moisture con-
tent of EFB. In this study, EFB drying based on exergy recovery is
Downloaded by [Selcuk Universitesi] at 17:59 05 February 2015
bunch (FFB), the amounts of CPO and PKO that can be
clarified are about 20 and 2%, respectively.[4] Total
production amounts of CPO and PKO in Indonesia are
predicted to reach about 31 and 3.7 million tons in

proposed to achieve high energy efficiency. A fluidized bed is
adopted as the main dryer. The proposed model is evaluated in terms
of energy efficiency, especially regarding the influence of target
moisture content and fluidization velocity. Up to 92% of the energy
involved in the drying process can be recirculated. The total energy
consumption for drying decreases as the target moisture content
decreases, though there is no significant impact of fluidization
velocity to total energy consumption. In addition, the required total
length of the heat transfer tubes immersed inside the fluidized bed
dryer is calculated because it relates to fluidization performance
and economic issues. Lower target moisture content results in a
longer heat transfer tube, and higher fluidization velocity leads to
a shorter heat transfer tube.
Keywords Drying; Empty fruit bunch; Energy efficiency; Exergy
recovery; Fluidized bed dryer
INTRODUCTION
Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand are the largest
producers and exporters of palm oil and its products in
the world. In the case of Indonesia, palm oil production
increased about 10% annually during 2002–2009. The
massive expansion of palm plantations, especially in
Sumatra and Kalimantan, is considered the main cause.[1,2]
Palm oil industries have served as a large source of income
for Indonesia for many years. In addition, palm oil and its
products emerged as a very important oil. The demands for
palm oil and its products have increased significantly
following the world’s economic growth, especially in some
developing countries such as China, India, and some Asian
countries.
Palm fruit, harvested from the palm tree (Elaeis
guianensis), yields crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel
oil (PKO), which have different compositions of saturated
Correspondence: Muhammad Aziz, Solutions Research Lab-
oratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1-I6-25 Ookayama,
Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan; E-mail: maziz@ssr.titech.
ac.jp
2014.[5] Unfortunately, an increase in palm oil production
also brings an increase in abundant production of waste,
including empty fruit bunch (EFB), shells, and fibers. Only
about 10% of the whole palm tree is changed to palm oil,
and the rest becomes the wastes.[6]
In a conventional CPO mill, the solid wastes are basi-
cally utilized for boiler fuel to generate electricity and
steam required in the mill. Unfortunately, among the solid
wastes in a CPO mill, EFB has the lowest economic value
and is less preferred as a solid fuel because of its high
moisture content, requirement for additional treatment
such as cutting and crushing before being fed to the burner,
etc.[7] EFB is a bunch without the palm fruit. It is produced
during FFB threshing to detach the palm fruit from the
FFB. The weight of EFB generated from FFB is about
20%.[8] EFB has a nonuniform shape and low bulk density
and contains a high moisture content ranging from 60 to
70 wt% on a wet basis (wb).[9,10]
The energy, both thermal and electrical, in CPO mills is
usually supplied by a standalone steam and power gener-
ator employing a steam boiler. The solid wastes, including
fibers, shells, and part of the EFB, are used as a fuel, which
is burned in a combustor. Because the boiler system is
designed to supply the thermal and electrical energy
required for milling, only a part of the solid waste is uti-
lized as fuel, especially those that are easy to burn and need
no further treatment. This leads to nonuse of large quanti-
ties of EFB due to its disfavor, especially due to high moist-
ure content. Hence, it is usually recycled as mulch in
plantation areas to avoid any soil erosion and maintain
the nutrient cycle.[11,12] Unfortunately, high transportation
cost, greenhouse gas emissions, and labor costs pose prob-
lems in its utilization.[13] Further utilization of EFB to
increase its economic value is urgently required. EFB is
believed to be a potential energy source. Some countries,
including Indonesia and Malaysia, are promoting the use
of EFB for small-scale power generation.[14]

395
 396 AZIZ ET AL.
As an energy source, EFB can be converted through
thermochemical and biochemical conversion.[15] In
thermochemical conversion, EFB can be utilized as a solid
fuel for combustion or gasification for power generation.
Moreover, EFB can be briquetted for longer storage=
transportation and higher calorific value. Unfortunately,
because EFB has a relatively high moisture content, drying
is an imperative pretreatment process before its utilization.
Drying is one of the most energy-intensive processes in
industry due to high energy consumption to evaporate
the water. To the best of our knowledge, few studies have
focused on the novel idea of EFB drying with significantly
high energy efficiency. Various energy-efficient drying
processes have been proposed and developed, such as heat
pump[16] and pinch technology,[17] but none can signifi-
cantly reduce the energy consumed in drying. This is due
to the high exergy destruction during drying.
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Furthermore, to evaluate how energy is used in the
system including both material processing and energy
conversion, energy and exergy analyses are crucial and
convenient methods. Energy analysis relates to the energy
balance based on the first law of thermodynamics. Unfor-
tunately, it does not take into account the degradation of
energy during a process and provides no information on
the quality of various energy types and streams involved
in the process. Therefore, exergy analysis is additionally
introduced to assess both energy quality and quantity. Fur-
thermore, it can indicate the location of energy degradation
in a process, leading to process improvement and minimum
exergy destruction. It is developed based on the first and
second laws of thermodynamics. This study focuses on an
innovative drying method for EFB to improve its calorific
value with significantly low energy consumption. Further-
more, this study proposes a possible design of integrated
drying, conversion process, and power generation. Con-
cretely, it proposes an innovative drying process employing
superheated steam for EFB based on exergy recovery tech-
nology. Both energy and exergy analyses are performed
during the process design. The influence of target moisture
content and fluidization velocity on the total required
energy for drying and required length of the heat transfer
tube immersed inside the dryer is evaluated. Furthermore,
a design of integrated drying, gasification, and combined
cycles based on process integration technology is proposed.
SUPERHEATED STEAM DRYING OF EFB BASED ON
EXERGY RECOVERY
Drying with superheated steam as a drying medium has
some advantages compared to other methods of drying due
to better heat transfer, ability to dry at elevated tem-
perature, faster drying rate, lower fire risk, etc.[18–20] The
characteristics of EFB drying with superheated steam have
been previously reported in the literature. Drying curves
have been modeled and estimated by Hasibuan and Wan
Daud.[21] Moreover, they performed an evaluation on the
effect of drying temperature and flow rate of superheated
steam on the quality of dried EFB including fiber mechan-
ical strength, color, and microstructures.[14] Unfortunately,
these studies were limited to the characteristics of EFB
drying using superheated steam without any further dis-
cussion on the energy analysis and energy conservation in
EFB drying, which are the main focus in this study.
Drying kinetics depends on physical and chemical
structures of the material and surrounding environmental
conditions. Hence, moisture removal requires energy to
overcome some forces, including capillary force, sorption
force, forces related to water diffusion, and chemical bond-
ing force. Furthermore, the relative vapor pressure—that
is, the ratio of partial vapor pressure to saturated vapor
pressure—is assumed as the main driving force in thermal
drying. Generally, drying to lower target moisture content
requires a stronger driving force; therefore, lower relative
vapor pressure is required. The relative vapor pressure
depends on parameters related to surrounding environmen-
tal conditions, such as temperature, pressure, and mixing
ratio. In the case of drying with superheated steam under
ambient condition, the relative vapor pressure can be
assumed as a function of temperature. The correlation of
relative vapor pressure to the target moisture content leads
to the concept of equilibrium moisture content, which is
the dynamic equilibrium with the environment. The
equilibrium moisture content, MCeq, of EFB drying with
superheated steam on a wet basis can be approximated as
Eq. (1).[21] It is clear that to dry EFB to lower equilibrium
moisture content, a higher drying temperature is required.
A higher temperature leads to a lower relative vapor press-
ure; hence, a stronger driving force of drying can be
achieved.
 
15:365 exp 0:001 ðTb  100Þ1:869
MCeq ¼    :
1 þ 15:365 exp 0:001 ðTb  100Þ1:869
ð1Þ
The minimization of exergy destruction in the whole
process is crucial to improve the energy efficiency. The
exergy destruction leads to irreversibility, which decreases
the overall energy efficiency. In a drying process without
heat recovery, the greatest exergy destruction is due to
the exhausted drying medium. Furthermore, in drying with
conventional heat recovery, there is still relatively high
exergy destruction because of poor total energy recovery
in the overall drying process. To minimize the exergy
destruction throughout the overall process, an exergy
recovery technology is proposed and applied.
Exergy recovery is adopted to recirculate and effectively
reutilize all of the energy involved in a process. Basically, it
 STEAM DRYING OF EMPTY FRUIT BUNCH
can be achieved by combining the exergy elevation and
effective heat coupling. The exergy of a process stream is
elevated by means of compression, heat pump, chemical
heat pump, etc., creating a hot stream that is utilized as a
heat source for the subsequent process. The amount of
exergy elevation depends primarily on the performance of
heat exchangers, including the dryer, and heat coupling.
Generally, the performance of heat exchange inside the
heat exchanger is influenced mainly by the minimum tem-
perature difference between the hot and cold streams. In
addition, the heat coupling of hot and cold streams must
be performed intensively so that a balanced amount of
energy=heat can be achieved. This can be realized by coup-
ling the same type of heat in the same stage, including sen-
sible, latent, endothermic, and exothermic heats. As a
result, an optimum balance of heat exchange can be
achieved and hence the amount of unrecovered heat can
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be minimized significantly. Therefore, the idea of exergy
recovery is significantly different from heat cascade utiliza-
tion, which is usually applied in drying with conventional
heat recovery. In heat cascade utilization, there is no idea
of exergy elevation; hence, the energy=heat of the hot
streams cannot be recovered thoroughly, leaving a large
part of unrecoverable heat. Finally, it results in a huge
amount of exergy destruction leading to still higher energy
input required for drying.
Figure 1 shows a basic process flow diagram of the
proposed EFB drying with superheated steam as a drying
medium employing exergy recovery. Bulky EFB collected
from some CPO mills is physically treated through cutting
and shredding. This will produce smaller and uniformly
sized EFB, improving the moisture removal rate and its
uniformity as well as better heat transfer due to a larger
contact surface area. Before entering the main dryer,
EFB will be preheated to a certain temperature using the
FIG. 1. Basic process flow diagram of the proposed EFB drying employ-
ing exergy recovery.
397
heat of condensed compressed-steam flowing out from
the dryer. Subsequently, the preheated EFB flows to the
main dryer for water evaporation. A fluidized bed (FBD)
with an immersed heat exchanger is selected as the evapor-
ator due to its advantages such as good particle mixing,
uniform temperature distribution, rapid heat and moisture
transfer, and large contact surface area.[22] In FBD, water
evaporation occurs, leading to separation of solid dried
EFB and evaporated steam. During fluidization, it is
expected that both dried and wet EFB is separated nat-
urally due to their different densities. The wet EFB will
sink initially once it enters the FBD. On the other hand,
the dried EFB will float as its moisture evaporates. Hence,
it results in overflow of the dried EFB at the upper side of
the bed.
The water evaporated from wet EFB goes together with
the steam used as the fluidizing gas. After leaving the FBD,
this steam will enter the cyclone-type of separator to
remove the solid particles blown in the fluidizing steam.
Furthermore, the steam exhausted from the cyclone is split
into two streams: purged steam and fluidizing steam. After
leaving the splitter, the purged steam is compressed by a
compressor for exergy elevation. The compression ratio
of the compressor depends strongly on the performance
of heat exchange throughout drying, especially the mini-
mum temperature approach in all of the heat exchangers,
including the dryer. The compressed steam is flown to the
FBD through immersed heat exchanger tubes for heat
recuperation. In the dryer, basically the condensation heat
of compressed steam is exchanged with the evaporation
heat of moisture inside the EFB. As its latent heat is recov-
ered, the compressed steam condenses and leaves out FBD
as a condensate. It flows to the separator to separate the
steam from the condensate if that steam still exists after
heat exchange. The steam is recirculated and mixed with
that exhausted from the FBD, and the condensate is uti-
lized to preheat wet EFB. On the other hand, the fluidizing
steam is utilized as fluidizing gas for fluidization after its
pressure is increased slightly by the blower. Then, it is
flown to the bottom side of the FBD through the distribu-
tor plate.
Figure 2 shows the basic modeling for input and output
of materials and energy in the proposed drying process. As
the main materials at both inlet and outlet sides, wet and
dried EFB is considered to consist of solid EFB and water
adsorbed in the solid EFB although the amount is differ-
ent. This is due to evaporation, which produces conden-
sate. A basic mass balance for the proposed drying
system can be written as
    
mm;1 þ mw;1 ¼ mm;3 hm;3 þ mw;3 hw;3 þ mw;4 hw;4 : ð2Þ
Moreover, in the proposed drying process, electricity
becomes the main energy input as it is consumed by
 398 AZIZ ET AL.

Finally, specific exergy of the condensate is written as

   
T P
exc ¼ Cw ðT0 ; P0 Þ  T0 Cw ln  Rv ln : ð9Þ
T0 P0

PROCESS MODELING AND EVALUATION

FIG. 2. Basic concept for input and output of materials and energy in
the proposed drying process.
compressor and blower. Furthermore, considering an
actual application of the proposed drying system, there is
inevitable heat loss from the system to the surrounding
environment. Therefore, the energy balance of the system
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To model and calculate the material and energy
balances throughout the proposed drying process, a steady-
state process simulator Pro=II (Invensys Corp., UK) is
used. Some assumptions are made, including (1) the FBD
consists of a mixer, a heat exchanger, and a separator;
(2) the minimum temperature approach in the fluidized
bed dryer and other heat exchangers is 10 C; (3) target
moisture contents during drying are set to 5 and 10 wt%
wb; (4) the ambient temperature and pressure are 25 C

can be written as and 101.33 kPa, respectively; (5) the adiabatic efficiency
of the compressor and blower is 87%; (6) component psy-
    
mm;1 hm;1 þ mw;1 hw;1 þ E el ¼ mm;3 hm;3 þ mw;3 hw;3 chochemical properties are calculated based on Soave-
 
ð3Þ Redlich-Kwong equations; (7) pressure drop at each heat
þ mw;4 hw;4 þ E loss : exchanger is assumed to be 5 kPa; (8) there is no heat loss;
(9) there is no air contamination inside the dryer; and (10)
In addition, the exergy balance for the system can be writ- heat is completely transferred in the FBD from the com-
ten as pressed steam to EFB particles via the heat transfer tube.
    
Table 1 shows the composition of the EFB including
mm;1 exm;1 þ mw;1 exw;1 þ Exel ¼ mm;3 exm;3 þ mw;3 exw;3 ultimate and proximate analysis, which is used in this
   study. The moisture content of wet EFB in this study is
þ mw;4 exw;4 þ Exloss þ Exdes : assumed to be 60 wt% wb. In Indonesia, the average
ð4Þ capacity of palm oil mill production is about 50–60
t-FFB h1.[24] Considering that the production of EFB
The specific exergy of each substances can be generally from FFB is 20% and EFB is collected from 10 different
written as CPO mills, the amount of wet EFB processed and used
in this study is 100 t h1. In the pretreatment stage before
ex ¼ ½h  h0   T0 ½S  S0 : ð5Þ

Specific exergy of the material[23] can be written as

TABLE 1
exm ¼ ½hm ðT; PÞ  hm ðT0 ; P0 Þ  T0 ½Sm ðT; PÞ  Sm ðT0 ; P0 Þ: Composition of EFB used in drying
process calculation[35,36]
ð6Þ
Component Value
Specific exergy of the moisture inside the material[23] is
calculated as Elemental analysis
C (wt% db) 46.62
    H (wt% db) 6.45
exw ¼ hf ðT Þ  hg ðT0 Þ  vf P  Pg ðT Þ N (wt% db) 1.21
 
  Pg ðT0 Þ ð7Þ S (wt% db) 0.035
 T0 Sf ðT Þ  Sg ðT0 Þ þ T0 Rv ln 0 :
xv P0 O (wt% db) 45.66
Proximate analysis
As the exergy rate of electricity is 1.0, the exergy of the Moisture (wt% wb) 60.0
input electricity is equal to its energy amount, which is Volatiles (wt% wb) 34.84
calculated as Fixed carbon (wt% wb) 3.71
Ash (wt% wb) 1.46
 
Exel ¼ E el ¼ V I t: ð8Þ Calorific value (MJ kg1) 17.02
 STEAM DRYING OF EMPTY FRUIT BUNCH 399

drying, wet EFB is cut and shredded to an average size of

5 mm square. The details of the assumed drying conditions
with superheated steam for EFB are listed in Table 2.
Figure 3 shows the process flow diagram of the pro-
posed drying process in the simulator. The FBD is shown
as the integration of a mixer (MX1), a heat exchanger
(HX2), and a separator (SEP1). The exhausted steam is
split to fluidizing steam (S12) and purged steam (S6). The
purged steam is compressed by a compressor (CP1) for
exergy elevation before its heat is recuperated for drying
in the FBD. The immersed heat exchanger inside the
FBD is represented by HX2. The condensate leaves the
FBD and is utilized to preheat wet EFB in HX1. To
improve the fluidization of shredded EFB and achieve
more uniform heat transfer and temperature distribution FIG. 3. Process flow diagram of the proposed drying process.
throughout the bed, silica sand with an average particle
diameter of 0.3 mm is utilized as the fluidizing medium.
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In addition, the fluidizing medium is expected to reduce
the blower work because of its smaller particle size than
the shredded EFB.
The pressure drop inside the fluidized bed, Dpf, required
for fluidization can be approximated as follows[25]:
where Dpb and Dpd are the pressure drops across the bed
and distributor, respectively, and can be calculated as
follows:
Dpb ¼ ð1  emf Þðqs  qg Þ H g=c ð11Þ

Dpf ¼ Dpb þ Dpd ; ð10Þ Dpd ¼ 0:4 Dpb : ð12Þ

Furthermore, the minimum fluidization velocity of flui-

dizing medium (silica sand), Umf, is calculated based on the
TABLE 2 modified Ergun equation for small particles[25] as follows:
Assumed drying conditions in process calculation

 !
Properties Value ds 2 qs  qg g e3mf U2s
Umf ¼ : ð13Þ
150 lg 1  emf
EFB material
Average particle diameter (mm) 5
Moisture content (wt% wb) 60 The calculated minimum fluidization velocity is then
Sphericity 0.6 confirmed through basic experiment. Furthermore, regard-
Heat capacity (kJ kg1 K1) 0.1031 þ 0.003867T ing the heat transfer inside the FBD, it is considered that
Fluidizing medium the heat from the compressed steam is transferred initially
Material Silica sand to the fluidizing medium, which is silica sand, before it is
Average diameter (mm) 0.3 transferred to the EFB. The heat transfer from the
Heat capacity (kJ kg1 K1) 1.1 immersed heat exchanger inside the FBD to silica sand par-
Sphericity 0.86 ticles in the bed, at, can be approximated by the following
Voidage at minimum fluidization 0.42 correlation[26,27]:
Particle density (kg m3) 2,600
!0:14  0:24
Bulk density (kg m3) 1,500
at ds q Cs es 2=3
Fluidized bed ¼ 0:74 Ar0:1 s es 2=3 þ 0:46 Re Pr ;
kg qg Cg eg
Side length (m) 5
Bed height (m) 5 ð14Þ
Heat transfer tube
Material SUS444 (80% Fe, where the Archimedes number, Ar, Reynolds number, Re,
18% Cr, 1.95 Mo) and Prandtl number, Pr, are calculated as follows:
Thermal conductivity (Wm1 K1) 26.8

Inner diameter (mm) 50 ds3 g qg qs  qg
Thickness (mm) 3 Ar ¼ ð15Þ
lg 2
 400 AZIZ ET AL.

q g v g dt compression work consumed to elevate the pressure of

Re ¼ ð16Þ purged steam and blower work required to increase the
lg
pressure of fluidizing steam for fluidization. It can be
Cg lg observed that drying to a moisture content of 5 wt% wb
Pr ¼ : ð17Þ requires lower total required work than drying to a moist-
kg
ure content of 10 wt% wb. In addition, the relation of
In addition, the heat transfer coefficient following the compressor outlet pressure to each fluidization velocity
condensation of compressed steam inside the horizontal and target moisture content is shown in Fig. 5. Although
heating tubes, ac, can be approximated as follows[28]: the drying temperature of lower target moisture content is
higher (142 C in the case of a target moisture content
0:023 Rel 0:8 Prl 0:4 kl h . i of 5 wt% wb compared to 122 C in the case of a target
ac ¼ 0:55 þ 2:09 ðp=pcrit Þ0:38 : ð18Þ moisture content of 10 wt% wb), drying to a lower target
dt
moisture content requires a lower compression ratio
The heat transfer from the fluidizing medium (silica sand) during the compression of purged steam.
to the shredded EFB in the dynamic regime is approxi- It is considered that in drying to a lower target moisture
mated using the following equation[29]: content, better material and energy balances can be
achieved than at a higher target moisture content. Lower
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ap ¼ 2:923dp 0:503 ds0:140 :
The driving force of heat transfer from the hot to cold
streams is presented using log mean temperature difference
(LMTD), which is defined as follows:
 steam condensation, as well as the sensible heat. In fact,
Thot;in  Tcold;out  Thot;out  Tcold;in
LMTD ¼ 
ð19Þ target moisture content means a greater amount of evapo-
rated steam, especially the purged steam, which is further
compressed and utilized as the main energy=heat source
throughout the drying process. Basically, the latent heat
of water evaporation is coupled with the latent heat of
the heat exchange occurs not only between the compressed

 :
ln Thot;in  Tcold;out Thot;out  Tcold;in
ð20Þ
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
To measure the total energy efficiency of the proposed
drying process for EFB, the total required work is calcu-
lated in correlation with the fluidization velocity for each
target moisture content, which is shown in Fig. 4. The
fluidization velocity is presented as a multiplication of
the minimum fluidization velocity of silica sand. Total
required work is basically defined as the addition of
FIG. 4. Correlation between total required work and fluidization velo-
city for each target moisture content during drying.
steam and water inside the EFB in each hot and cold
stream but also includes its solid EFB. Hence, the sensible
heat of solid EFB is supplied by the additional sensible heat
of compressed steam, leading to a higher compression ratio
than that required for heat coupling between steam and
water. Drying with a smaller amount of evaporated water
(higher target moisture content) will require a higher
compression ratio to provide this sensible heat.
In addition, following the pressure–enthalpy diagram of
water, the latent heat following evaporation and conden-
sation decreases as its pressure increases. Although this
amount is insignificant, it results in unequal heat coupling
FIG. 5. Correlation between required pressure outlet at the compressor
and fluidization velocity for each target moisture content of drying.
 STEAM DRYING OF EMPTY FRUIT BUNCH
between steam condensation and water evaporation,
leading to additional duty to the compressor to cover this
inequality.
There is no significant influence of fluidization velocity
on the total required work for drying, as well as the outlet
pressure of compressor. As the fluidization velocity
increases, the blower work increases accordingly. However,
the energy consumed for the blower is significantly lower
than that consumed by the compressor. Numerically, it
increases from about 18 kW (1 Umf) to about 73 kW
(4 Umf) in both target moisture contents. This is due to
the smaller total amount of fluidizing steam than purged
steam and lower pressure increase of the blower than the
compressor. Hence, no significant change in total required
work is observed.
The energy efficiency of the proposed drying process can
be presented as the coefficient of the drying performance. It
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can be defined as the ratio of the energy required to remove
the water from the solid EFB to the total required energy
consumed for the drying process. From the calculation,
the coefficient of drying performance increases from 8.0
(target moisture content of 10 wt% wb) to 10.8 (target
moisture content of 5 wt% wb).
Figure 6 shows the relation between the required length
of the heat transfer tube, which is immersed inside the
FBD, and the fluidization velocity for each target moisture
content. The heat transfer tubes are installed horizontally
and parallel to each other from one side of the FBD to
the other side. Therefore, the total number of horizontal
tubes is defined as the quotient of total required heat trans-
fer tube length divided by the side length of the FBD where
the heat transfer tubes are spanned. The length of the heat
transfer tube (the number of tubes spanned) will influence
the fluidization performance of the fluidizing medium and
EFB particles, as well as its maintenance and capital cost.
Generally, drying to a target moisture content of 10 wt% wb
FIG. 6. Required length of heat transfer tube immersed inside the FBD.
401
requires shorter total heat transfer tube length than drying
to a target moisture content of 5 wt% wb. Drying to a
higher target moisture content leads to a lower amount
of evaporated steam, especially the purged steam, which
will be compressed and flown inside the heat transfer tubes.
In addition, the compression ratio of the compressor is
higher in the case of a higher target moisture content.
Numerically, in drying to a target moisture content of
5 wt% wb, the steam pressure inside the heat transfer tube
is about 275 kPa. This pressure increases to about 395 kPa
when the target moisture content is increased to 10 wt% wb.
This lower flow rate and higher pressure are considered the
main factors resulting in shorter total heat transfer tube
length.
The overall heat transfer from compressed steam to
EFB particles is relatively complex and is mainly influenced
by the heat transfer coefficients mentioned above. Con-
sidering that heat transfer between particles and heat trans-
fer due to conductive heat transfer of heat transfer tubes
are constant at different fluidization velocities and target
moisture contents, the overall heat transfer inside the
FBD is mainly governed by the heat transfer due to steam
condensation and convective heat transfer from heat trans-
fer tubes to fluidization medium (silica sand). Figure 7
shows the heat transfer coefficients due to steam conden-
sation inside the heat transfer tube, ac, and convection
from heat transfer tubes to fluidization medium, at, for dif-
ferent target moisture contents and fluidization velocities.
The heat transfer due to steam condensation inside the
heat transfer tube, ac, increases as the target moisture con-
tent decreases. Lower target moisture content leads to a
higher flow rate of compressed steam, leading to a higher
Reynolds number, Re, of the stream. In addition, there is
no significant influence of fluidization velocity on heat
transfer due to steam condensation inside the heat transfer
tubes. This is mainly due to the constant flow rate of the
compressed steam flowing inside the heat transfer tubes
for the same target moisture content. In addition, the
exchanged heat amount from compressed steam to the
FBD only changes slightly in the case of fixed target moist-
ure content.
On the other hand, heat transfer due to convection of
horizontal heat transfer tubes in the FBD, at, is signifi-
cantly influenced by both fluidization velocity and target
moisture content. Fluidization velocity has a significant
impact on the flow rate of the fluidization gas, which is
steam. Higher fluidization velocity means a higher flow rate
of the fluidization gas, resulting in higher Reynolds num-
ber, Re. Moreover, the target moisture content has a strong
relation to the drying temperature inside the FBD, which
influences some physical properties of the fluidizing gas,
such as density, viscosity, heat capacity, and thermal
conductivity. Concretely, lower target moisture content
demands a higher drying temperature; hence, the density
 402
FIG. 7. Heat transfer coefficients due to condensation inside the tube and convection outside the tube for different fluidization velocities and target
moisture contents.
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and heat capacity of steam decreases. On the contrary, vis-
cosity (both dynamic and kinematic) and thermal conduc-
tivity increase, which results in lower Archimedes number,
Ar, and Prandtl number, Pr. Finally, a lower target moist-
ure content leads to a lower heat transfer coefficient due to
convective heat transfer from horizontal tubes to the flui-
dizing medium inside the FBD, at.
Considering the total energy consumption and some
technical issues, drying to a target moisture content of
5 wt% wb and fluidization velocity of 2–3Umf seems to be
the best option for drying of EFB. A lower fluidization
velocity leads to a longer heat transfer tube, which means
a greater number of installed horizontal heat transfer
tubes, hence resulting in higher capital cost, maintenance,
and higher disturbance during fluidization. On the other
hand, very high fluidization velocity leads to entrainment
of the fluidizing medium (silica sand) and small EFB parti-
cles, causing some technical difficulties in separation and
filtration.
Figure 8 shows the energy flow diagram of the proposed
drying process for EFB in the case of target moisture
FIG. 8. Energy flow diagram of the proposed drying process (target
moisture content 5 wt% wb, fluidization velocity 2 Umf).
AZIZ ET AL.
content and fluidization velocity of 5 wt% wb and 2 Umf,
respectively. Considering no heat loss from the system,
about 92% of the total energy required for drying can be
recirculated by applying the proposed drying process for
EFB. The produced dried EFB is still in a high temperature
condition with a relatively high exergy rate. To further
minimize the exergy destruction, a continuous utilization
process of dried EFB in hot condition is expected, such
as gasification.
INTEGRATION OF DRYING TO GASIFICATION AND
COMBINED CYCLE
The dried EFB is considered a potential energy source.
EFB has relatively high amount of volatile matter (up to
82%) and low sulfur, which strengthen the idea of utilizing
EFB as an energy source.[30] In addition, to minimize the
exergy destruction of the proposed drying process,
especially the dried EFB, integration of a drying process
with conversion and utilization processes is recommended.
Among the available conversion and energy harvesting
processes, an integrated gasification and combined cycle
(IGCC) is considered that has high generation efficiency
due to greater carbon conversion, lower exergy destruction
in power generation, etc., as well as its low environmental
impact.[31,32] Moreover, among the available conversion
technologies, gasification has advantages such as high car-
bon conversion efficiency and faster reaction, leading to its
suitability for biomass conversion.[33,34]
Integration of drying, gasification, and combined cycles
for EFB with high energy efficiency can be achieved by
combining both exergy recovery and process integration
technologies. The former thoroughly recovers the energy
involved in a single process, and the latter recuperates
and utilizes the unrecoverable energy in a certain process
into other processes. Hence, the total exergy destruction
 STEAM DRYING OF EMPTY FRUIT BUNCH
FIG. 9. Possible integration of proposed drying process to gasification and combined cycle for energy harvesting from EFB.
Downloaded by [Selcuk Universitesi] at 17:59 05 February 2015
in the overall integrated processes can be significantly
reduced. Figure 9 shows the possible integration of drying,
gasification, and combined cycles for energy harvesting
from EFB. After drying, the hot dried EFB is converted
to syngas in the fluidized bed gasifier under a high gasifi-
cation temperature (900–1300 C). Similar to other biomass
gasification, EFB gasification also mainly produces syngas
containing H2, CH4, and CO.
The produced syngas leaves the fluidized bed gasifier and
its heat is recuperated to superheat the recirculated steam
for the steam turbine. Furthermore, syngas is cleaned up
before it is oxidized in the combustor to produce a high
enthalpy of the gas to spin the gas turbine. The exhausted
gas with a relatively high exergy rate (temperature ranges
from 600 to 900 C) is utilized for primary superheating of
the recirculated steam in the heat recovery steam generator.
Finally, the recirculated steam expands in the steam turbine
to generate the electricity. The flue gas from the combined
cycle process with a relatively low exergy rate is flown to
the drying stage for preheating purposes. Hence, the total
exergy destruction from the overall processes can be mini-
mized, leading to higher total energy efficiency.
CONCLUSIONS
High energy-efficient drying for EFB has been proposed
and evaluated based on the idea of exergy recovery
technology. The exergy recovery was performed through
optimum exergy elevation and efficient heat coupling. A
fluidized bed was selected as the main dryer. The energy
efficiency of the proposed EFB drying process was evalu-
ated under different target moisture contents and fluidiza-
tion velocities. The application of exergy recovery can
recover up to 92% of the total energy required for drying.
A lower target moisture content led to lower energy
consumption for drying due to better material and energy
403
balances. In addition, there was no significant influence
of fluidization velocity on the amount of energy consumed
due to insignificant energy consumption required for
fluidization.
Drying to a lower moisture content required a longer
heat transfer tube, which is immersed inside the FBD to
mainly facilitate the latent heat exchange due to the higher
flow rate and lower pressure of the compressed steam flow-
ing inside the heat transfer tubes. Moreover, drying under
higher fluidization velocity resulted in shorter heat transfer
tubes due to the higher heat transfer coefficient due to con-
vection from heat transfer tubes to the fluidizing medium.
The balance between target moisture content and fluidiza-
tion velocity was one of the key successes in EFB drying in
terms of technical and economic points of view.
In addition, the integration of drying with conversion
and utilization processes was considered to be important
to achieve higher total energy efficiency in the overall utili-
zation process. Integration of drying and IGCC seems to
be promising technology in terms of energy efficiency.
Finally, the utilization of EFB for power generation can
improve the value of EFB, as well as reduce the environ-
mental impact and increase the energy supply in general.
The generated power can be utilized for mills, sold to
utilities, or distributed to the surrounding neighborhood
to increase the electrification ratio and community
standard of life.
NOMENCLATURE
Ar Archimedes number
C Specific heat capacity (J kg1K1)
c Conversion factor (1 kg m N1 s2)
d Diameter (m)
E Energy (J)
Ex Exergy (J)
 404 AZIZ ET AL.

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