Pyrolysis Kinetic Analysis of Biomasses: Sugarcane Residue, Corn Cob, Napier Grass and their Mixture

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate pyrolysis kinetic parameters of three high potential energy biomasses including sugarcane residue (tops and leaves), corn cob and Napier grass via thermogravimetry analysis (TGA). In addition, those of their mixture at 1:1:1 by mass is explored. Activation energy and pre-exponential factor were the two considered parameters calculated by following the Ozawa-Flynn-Wall method using condition of 30-900°C with heating rates of 5, 10, 20 and 40°C/min. The derivative thermogravimetric (DTG) curves indicated that there might be at least three different component structures in corn cob. The effective values of the both parameters were almost similar as 214.54, 216.60, 212.51 kJ/mol and 1.510E+19, 1.575E+19, 1.562E+19 min^-1 for the sugarcane residue, the corn cob, the Napier grass, respectively. Finally, the ternary diagram suggested that the increase of Napier grass proportion would slightly affect the conversion of pyrolysis by reducing the total activation energy of the biomass mixture.