Conversion of Mustard Husk into Value Added Products Using Thermo-Chemical Technology

Mustard is one the most important spices that is cultivated around the globe. The mustard plants thrive under cold climate and require around 3-4 months to generate mustard seeds. After the production of mustard seed the thing that remains behind is the husk. Mustard husk cannot be used as animal feed, since it is not digestible. The husk was usually burnt in the fields (especially India) which contributed to a large amount of smoke and pollution in the surrounding atmosphere. Mustard husk is now a days used as a popular option to generate power or directly used as a solid fuel by forming briquettes. The concept of thermo-chemical degradation of mustard husk in inert environment is one of the promising methods to extract value added products. Till date, no extensive studies have been carried out for pyrolysis of mustard husk. The present study deals with pyrolysis of 2 kg of mustard husk in a rotary kiln reactor with temperature ranging from 400-500^oC. The temperature was selected based on the production of optimum quantity of liquid and solid products. The results showed that optimum oil and char quantity was obtained at a temperature of 450^oC with yield to be around 36.5% and 37.5%, respectively. The ultimate and proximate analysis of oil and char obtained was carried out for overall material and component balance. GCMS, TGA and FTIR analysis was conducted for identifying the relevant compounds with commercial applications.