Abstract
The pyrolysis process of various types of biomass (agricultural and wood by-products) in non-isothermal conditions using simultaneous thermal analyses (STA) was investigated. Devolatilization kinetics was implemented through combined application of model-free methods and DAEM (distributed activation energy model) using Gaussian distribution functions of activation energies. Results obtained were used in the curve prediction of the rate of mass loss against temperature at various heating rates by numerical optimization. The possible calculation of biomass samples behavior under pyrolytic conditions as the summation of their pseudo-components, hemicelluloses, cellulose, and lignin is also explored. The differences between experimental and calculated data are less than 3.20% offering a quality test of applicability of proposed model on the kinetic studies of a wide range of biomass samples. It seems that the most physically realistic model is the decomposition of biomass in three reactions, depending on the composition of the biomass regarding hemicelluloses, cellulose, and lignin. Kinetic model applied here may serve as a starting point to build more complex models capable of describing the thermal behavior of plant materials during thermochemical processing.
Highlights
Biomass could be described as the result of the storage of sunlight in the form of chemical energy in plants
The objective of this study is to evaluate the kinetics parameters for thermal decomposition of various biomasses with the help of thermal analysis (TA) techniques equipped for simultaneous measurements
All tested samples have the higher heating value (HHV) values ranging from 15.29–18.20%, which belongs to the heating values of biomass derived bio-chars (11.83–44.20%) [36,37]
Summary
Biomass could be described as the result of the storage of sunlight in the form of chemical energy in plants. Sunlight transforms carbon dioxide and water from the atmosphere into a complex of plant polymers for a relatively short period of time [1]. Using these resources for energy production allows the circulation of carbon dioxide, as well as its storage in value-added products. It’s well known that biomass is a fully renewable resource, and its use for production of bioenergy, biofuels, chemicals or other products does not increase the content of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere [2,3].
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