Computational modeling of the combustion reaction kinetics of the oil palm’s Empty Fruit Bunch and Mesocarp Fiber

Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) and Palm Mesocarp Fiber (PMF) are abundant by-products of palm-oil milling whose energetic valorisation is limited by high moisture and corrosive ash constituents (K, Cl). Using a computational model developed in Python and solved with the Livermore Solver for Ordinary Differential Equations with Automatic method switching algorithm, this study presents a moisture-free, mass- and energy-balanced kinetic framework that predicts the time-resolved combustion behavior of both biomasses, thereby strengthening the reproducibility and transparency of the modeling framework. The kinetic model tracks the consumption of elemental species and formation of combustion products, calibrated with data from the NIST Chemical Kinetics Database. The model accurately reproduces the low-heating-value energy releases reported in the literature – 147.11 MJ for EFB and 158.27 MJ for PMF – while additionally resolving transient species profiles, heat-release rates and combustion-power curves. Simulations reveal that EFB attains its maximum heat release at an Air to Fuel Ratio ≈ 13 % lower than PMF, yet still delivers greater boiler-usable enthalpy after accounting for moisture-free energy balance. Our results demonstrate that rigorous physicochemical characterisation combined with detailed chemical kinetics provides a reliable, transferable toolset for designing next-generation biomass boilers and unlocking the energy potential of agro-industrial residues such as EFB.