RESEARCH ARTICLE

Journal of Oil Palm Research Vol. 38 (1) March 2026, p. 136-146

BIO-OIL AND BIO-HYDROGEN PRODUCTION USING RED MUD CATALYST FROM OIL PALM BIOMASS WASTE

ARIF HIDAYAT1*; CHOLILA TAMZYSI1 and MUFLIH ARISA ADNAN1

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21894/jopr.2025.0001
Received: 26 December 2023   Accepted: 24 October 2024   Published Online: 7 January 2025
ABSTRACT

Indonesia produces solid waste from oil palm plantations that have the potential to produce bio-oil and hydrogen in the context of sustainable energy development. This paper reports on the utilisation of biomass as bio-oil and bio-hydrogen producer by catalytic pyrolysis using solid waste from the aluminium industry as a catalyst. Catalytic pyrolysis was carried out in a fixed-bed reactor with varying temperatures. Three types of oil palm biomass were subjected to pyrolysis and catalytic pyrolysis to obtain hydrogen-rich gas products at various temperatures and flow rates. The products were characterised using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The results showed that the yields of bio-oil and bio-hydrogen obtained from oil palm biomass varied in the range of 18-40 wt.% and 23-37 wt.% respectively. The liquid product from catalytic pyrolysis of palm biomass using red mud (RM) catalyst contains primary oxygenate compounds such as acids, aromatics and esters.

KEYWORDS:


1 Chemical Engineering Department,
Universitas Islam Indonesia, Indonesia.

* Corresponding author e-mail: arif.hidayat@uii.ac.id