Fractionation and Characterization of Bagasse^s Pyrolysis Oil Hendrix Yulis Setyawan*, Beauty Suestining Diyah D, Amalia Andin Meida
Department of Agroindustrial Technology, Faculty of Agricultural Technology, Universitas Brawijaya
Abstract
Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) is used to make sugar and produces bagasse in the process. Indonesia is one of the top producers of sugarcane, ranking ninth globally. Approximately 54 million tonnes of bagasse are produced globally per year from sugar production. The composition of bagasse includes 37.65% cellulose, 22.09% lignin, 27.97% pentosan, 3.01% SiO2, 1.81% sap, and 3.82% ash. One of the efforts to process bagasse is by pyrolysis. Pyrolysis is a process of decomposing materials at high temperatures without/with little oxygen, producing pyrolysis oil and char. Pyrolysis oil from bagasse has the potential as a chemical source, food preservative, and fuel. However, to further utilise the pyrolysis oil, it is necessary to understand its characteristics. In this study, the bagasse was pyrolysed at 400 - 600oC. The pyrolysis oil was then fractionated to increase the chemical characterisation at 80-120oC, and >120oC. The results were analysed for water content, pH, density, refractive index, and chemical species using GCMS. The results showed that the highest moisture content in pyrolysis oil was found in the 80oC-100oC fraction, which was around 95.18%-96.5%, and the lowest moisture content was in the 100oC -120oC fraction, which was around 88.66%-90.16%. The highest refractive index of the pyrolysis oil was pyrolyzed at 400oC. The increasing pyrolysis temperature reduced the density of the oil, and the density of the fraction of pyrolysis oil at a temperature of 80oC -100oC was higher compared to the 100 oC-120oC fraction. Density and water content have a directly proportional relationship, so the higher the water content, the higher the density. The pH of the oil is around 2-2.63. The GC-MS test results showed that bagasse pyrolysis oil mainly contained phenol components, Bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, and 1,2 benzene carboxylic acid , bis (2-ethylhexyl) ester, which act as antifungal, antioxidant, antibacterial, antimicrobial.
