• Energy Research

The demand for rubber gloves has significantly increased in both medical and non-medical fields due to the spread of the coronavirus in 2019. It is challenging for rubber glove manufacturing industries to balance the production and demand for the product. Additionally, they must determine techniques to decrease the production costs so as to make rubber gloves more economical for consumers. Generally, natural gas, fossil fuels, and renewable energy sources are used worldwide in the manufacturing of rubber gloves. In addition, Thailand uses biomass energy for rubber glove production, but biomass utilization is not economically friendly. This study used different biomasses as fuel in rubber glove production so as to reduce production costs and make the process more environmentally friendly. Wood chip (WC), palm kernel shells (PKS), and oil palm mesocarp fiber (OPMF) biomass were collected from local regions and used in different ratios. The samples of WC, PKS, and OPMF were prepared in four different ratios, namely, 88:12:0, 85:15:0, 85:13:2, and 85:10:5, for efficient biomass utilization. The 85:10:5 (WC: PKS: OPMF) ratio was found to be the optimal ratio as the annual production costs of rubber gloves significantly decreased to USD 1.64 per 1000 units of gloves. Furthermore, this biomass ratio also showed the best boiler efficiency of 74.87%. Therefore, WC, PKS, and OPMF biomass are recommended as fuel for rubber glove industries to make sustainable and economical production processes.

This investigation explored the intensive characteristics of biomass and biochar from oil palm trunk (OPT) and oil palm fronds (OPF) for supporting the increasing demand of solid biofuels in Thailand. The characteristics of these samples were also compared to low grade sub-bituminous coal (LGSBC). The results indicate that converting OPT and OPF to biochar not only enhanced the fuel ratio and atomic ratios, but it also improved the energy content. The higher heating values (HHV) of OPT and OPF biochars were 26.92 and 28.05 MJ/kg. The fuel ratio, atomic ratio and HHV of biochars were better than those of LGSBC and biomass forms. Thermal decomposition and combustion characteristics of biomass and biochar from OPT and OPF were clearly different in N2and air atmospheres. The biomass and biochar from OPT and OPF had high contents of alkali elements, consequently their ashes had high concentrations of some oxides like SiO2 and K2O. Biomass and biochar ashes from OPT and OPF had low initial deformation temperature (IDT). The IDT of OPT biochar ash was the lowest (907 °C), while the IDT of ash from LGSBC was above 1500 °C. The slagging and fouling indexes of biochars were clearly different from the LGSBC and biomass forms. Therefore, biomass and biochar from OPT and OPF have potential for solid biofuel use, and they are promising for further upgrading and applications. The user needs to be concerned with ash related problems like ash fusion, slagging, and fouling during combustion of these solid biofuels.