Biomass in the form of oil palm shell was pyrolysed in an externally heated 4 cm diameter
29 cm high ~uidised bed pyrolysis reactor with nitrogen as the ~uidising gas and silica sand as
the bed material[ The pyrolysis oil was collected in a series of condenser and ice!cooled
collectors[ The char was collected separately while the gases were ~ared[ The e}ects of process
conditions like ~uidised bed reactor temperature feed size and ~uidisation gas ~ow rate on
the product yields were studied[ The product yields were found to be signi_cantly in~uenced
by the process conditions[ The composition of oil was determined at ~uidised bed temperature
of 499>C at which the liquid product yield was maximum[ The oil was analysed by Fourier
Transform infra!red "FTIR# spectroscopy and gas chromatography:mass spectrometry
"GC:MS# techniques[ In addition the physical properties of the oil were determined[ The
results showed that the oil was highly oxygenated containing a high fraction of phenol!based
compounds[ Detailed analysis of the oil showed that there was no concentration of biologically
active polycyclic aromatic species in the oil[ A brief preliminary economic analysis is presented
at the end of the paper "see Appendix#[ Þ 0888 Elsevier Science Ltd[ All rights reserved[