Caracterização físico-químico e termográfica do biochar de partes do coco de babaçu (Orbygnia Phalerata) e avaliação do potencial aplicação em atividades agrícolas

Abstract

Coconut Babaçu (Orbignya phalerata) is a fruit native to Brazil, found mainly in the North and Northeast regions of the country, and also in countries that make up the Amazon region such as Bolivia, Colombia and Suriname. The biomass of this fruit contains a variety of lignocellulosic, starchy and oleaginous organic components, with great potential for obtaining biofuels and biochar. To this end, technological routes for the use of biomass are sought, such as the pyrolysis process, a promising technique capable of generating bio-products with high added value. In this sense, the present study aims to evaluate the thermogravimetric profile of specific parts of the babassu coconut: epicarp, mesocarp and almond and associate it with the study of the application of the pyrolysis process on a bench scale to obtain biochar. The analysis immediately indicated that the epicarp has the highest content of volatile materials (94.46%) among the studied and low contents of fixed carbon (0.97%) and ash (1.13%), while the mesocarp it had high volatile material and fixed carbon contents, respectively, 85.47% and 7.9%, and low ash content, 1.55%. The almond, as well as the epicarp, has a high content of volatile material (94.28%), low moisture content (1.82%) and fixed carbon (0.33%). From thermogravimetric analyzes of biomass and biochar, it was possible to identify and understand the main events that occurred in the thermal conversion process. The results of the study indicate that parts of the babassu are characterized as biomass eligible for the production of bioenergy and bioproducts such as biochar, in particular, the babassu epicarp and mesocarp.