DETERMINATION OF ENERGY CONTENT OF PALM TREE (ELAEIS GUINEENSIS

Abstract

Energy is a basic necessity for human activities, economic and social development. However, in Nigeria, insufficient energy remains a strong barrier to technological and economical growth of the country. A larger population of Nigeria depends on fossil fuels for energy generation, which are not renewable and constitute hazards to both human and ecology. Nonetheless, all hope is not lost as the country is blessed with a lot of natural resources, through which alternative forms of energy, which are renewable, could be generated. This project is therefore aimed at determining the energy content of palm tree (Elaeis guineensis). Two different age categories of palm trees, that is, palm tree of age 10 years and the other that has its age above 20 years were selected. The palm trees were completely uprooted and cut into sections, that is (the root, stem 1 (lower layer), stem 2 (upper layer), palm frond, palm kernel, chaff, oil palm bunch and palm kernel shell) and samples were taken from these sections. Each of the samples was sundried, pulverized, sieved and laboratory examinations were conducted where their proximate and ultimate analyses were determined. The average percentage Moisture content, Ash content, Volatile Matter, and Fixed Carbon constituted the proximate composition of the palm trees and were found to be 10.64%, 20.10%, 4.62% and 64.46% respectively while the average percentage Total Carbon content, Nitrogen content, Sulphur content and (Oxygen and Hydrogen) content constituted the ultimate composition for the palm trees being considered and were found to be 84.75%, 0.69%, 0.11% and 14.45% respectively. The energy value of each sample was also determined with the aid of a bomb calorimeter and the average energy values were found to be 18,166.87 kJ/kg and 18,174.72 kJ/kg for the palm tree of age 10 years and the other that its age above 20 years respectively. It was revealed from the research findings that palm tree has low moisture content of 10.64% which accounts for its high energy value of 18,170.85 kJ/kg, hence, oil palm has a high potential to be used as a renewable source of energy. It was observed that, the lower the moisture content, the higher the energy value with palm kernel having the lowest moisture content of 6.62% and the highest energy value of 25,858.92 kJ/kg. It was concluded that there is no significant difference in the energy value, proximate and ultimate compositions of the two age categories of palm tree being considered, and this implies that age of palm tree has no effect on its energy value, proximate and ultimate compositions.