Ultimate Properties of Different Ratio of Mix Leucaena leucocephala and Acacia mangium Fuel Pellets

Abstract

The ultimate properties are important in order to determine the percentage of constituent elements of material which contributes to combustion. Combustion is one of the important elements to determine whether a material is suitable to be used as a solid fuel or not.  Thus, the objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of ratio of the mixture of Leucaena leucocephala(LL) and Acacia mangium(AM)fuel pellets on ultimate properties. Five ratios were determined based on LL:AM namely 100:0; 30:70; 50:50; 70:30 and 0:100. The ultimate analysis parameters are carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and sulfur.  The carbon (C), hydrogen (H),  nitrogen (N) and sulphur (S) elements were determined using a CHNS/O Analyser, and Perkin Elmer 2400 Series II base on ASTM D3176 standard.  The averagepercentage of carbon has decreased from bottom to top portions, indicating that the bottom portion has recorded a higher percentage of carbon as compared to the top portion. The highest is in the mixture of 70:30 bottom portion (49.31%), and the lowest is in the mixture of 30:70 top portion (38.9%). Meanwhile, the average percentage of hydrogen has increased from bottom to top portions, indicating that the top portion has recorded a higher percentage of hydrogen as compared to the bottom portion. The highest is in A. mangium middle portion (9.23%), and the lowest is in the mixture of 70:30 bottom portion (5.87%).  The average percentage of nitrogen has increased from bottom to top portions, indicating that the top portion has recorded a higher percentage of nitrogen as compared to the bottom portion.  The highest is in the mixture of 50:50 top portion (19.18%), and the lowest is in the L. leucocephala bottom portion (12.26%). On the other hand, the average percentage of sulphur has decreased from bottom to top, meaning that the bottom portion has recorded a higher percentage of sulphur as compared to the top portion. The highest is in L. leucocephala bottom portion (0.49%), and the lowest is in the mixture of 70:30 bottom portion (0.11%). The mixtures have increased the percentage of nitrogen and carbon in the fuel pellets but have no increment in the percentage of sulphur and hydrogen. The 50:50 mixtures of the top portion of L. leucocephala and A. mangium fuel pellets has recorded the highest nitrogen contents (19.18%).  On the other hand, the 70:30 mixtures of the bottom portion of L. leucocephala and A. mangium fuelpellets has recorded the highest carbon contents (49.31%).Based on the results of the ultimate analysis above, it can be concluded that L. leucocephala and A. mangiumhave the potential to be utilised as solid fuel individually or in the form of mixtures with the best compositions is at 70:30 for all the portions.