Reusing the Liquid Fraction Generated from Leaching and Wet Torrefaction of Empty Fruit Bunch

Leaching ($60^{\circ}C$, 5 min) and wet torrefaction ($200^{\circ}C$, 5 min) of empty fruit bunch (EFB) were carried out to improve the fuel properties; each liquid fraction was reused for leaching and wet torrefaction, respectively. In the leaching process, potassium was effectively removed because the leaching solution contained 707.5 ppm potassium. Inorganic compounds were accumulated in the leaching solution by increasing the reuse cycle of leaching solution. The major component of the leached biomass did not differ significantly from the raw material (p-value < 0.05). Inorganic compounds in the biomass were more effectively removed by sequential leaching and wet torrefaction (61.1%) than by only the leaching process (50.1%) at the beginning of the liquid fraction reuse. In the sequential leaching and wet torrefaction, the main hydrolysate component was xylose (2.36~4.17 g/L). This implied that hemicellulose was degraded during wet torrefaction. As in the leaching process, potassium was effectively removed and the concentration was accumulated by increasing the reuse cycle of wet torrefaction hydrolysates. There was no significant change in the chemical composition of wet torrefied biomass, which implied that fuel properties of biomass were constantly maintained by the reuse (four times) of the liquid fraction generated from leaching and wet torrefaction.