Prosopis juliflora is an invasive species, which is spreading at an alarming rate in Ethiopia. Cement factories in the country are using fossil fuels contributing to the global greenhouse gas emission. The present study has aimed at utilizing Prosopis juliflora charcoal as a carbon-neutral alternative fuel for cement factories with the objectives of reducing CO₂ emission and controlling the spread of the plant to arable areas. The study focused on optimizing the charcoal preparation conditions using central composite design response surface methodology. The independent process variables were carbonization temperature and time, which were investigated in the temperature and time ranges of 300–600 °C and 60–180 min, respectively. The response variables were charcoal yield, calorific value, and volatile matter content. Quadratic model equations were selected for all responses based on analysis of variance. The respective regression analyses have demonstrated that the model equations can be used to predict the charcoal yield, calorific value, and volatile matter content in the investigated range with 99.85%, 99.9%, and 99.9% variability, respectively. For the predicted optimal carbonization condition, charcoal yield, calorific value, and volatile matter content were found to be 47.52%, 24.43 MJ/kg, and 56.58%, respectively. The charcoal prepared at the optimized condition was subjected for elemental and proximate analysis and compared with other alternative fuels that are in use in the industry. Results show that the charcoal has better desirable properties such as less moisture and volatile matter and higher fixed carbon content and calorific value.

鸢尾Prosopis juliflora是一种入侵物种，正在埃塞俄比亚以惊人的速度传播。该国的水泥厂正在使用化石燃料来促进全球温室气体的排放。本研究的目的是利用胡桃木木炭作为水泥厂的碳中性替代燃料，目的是减少CO _2。排放并控制植物向可耕地的扩散。该研究集中于使用中心复合设计响应面方法优化木炭的制备条件。独立的过程变量是碳化温度和碳化时间，分别在300–600°C和60–180 min的温度和时间范围内进行了研究。响应变量是木炭产量，热值和挥发性物质含量。根据方差分析为所有响应选择二次模型方程。各自的回归分析表明，模型方程可用于预测所研究范围内的木炭收率，热值和挥发物含量，其变异性分别为99.85％，99.9％和99.9％。对于预测的最佳碳化条件，发现木炭的产率，热值和挥发性物质含量分别为47.52％，24.43 MJ / kg和56.58％。对在最佳条件下制得的木炭进行了元素分析和近期分析，并与行业中使用的其他替代燃料进行了比较。结果表明，木炭具有更好的理想特性，例如更少的水分和挥发性物质，以及更高的固定碳含量和热值。