Analysis of Pyrolysis Kinetics and Energy Content of Agricultural and Forest Waste

Abstract

Selected agricultural and forest wastes included rice husk, coconut husk, cashewnut shell, eucalyptus, pine and mangrove were used for thermal characterization. The studied materials have heating value between 13 and 23 kJ/kg, such that the biomass material can be used as a fuel by directly burning, but their energy content is lower as compared to coal and other fossil fuels. The energy content of the biomass material can be improved through pyrolysis process for the mentioned materials, the cashew nut shell had higher energy content than other biomass material due to its high hydrogen to carbon ratio and low oxygen to carbon ratio. Thermochemical characteristic depicted high degradation at a heating rate of 10 K/min. All studied materials except mangrove and pine, maximum degradation occurred at 5 K/min. The reactivity of coconut husk was highest whilst cashew nut shell had the least reactivity. The activation energy for cashew nut shell obtained was 336.41 kJ/mole and the activation energy of the other biomass ranged between 220 and 130 kJ/mol. The coconut husk, pine, eucalyptus and rice husk are more reactive than mangrove and cashewnut shell.