Comparative study on pyrolysis kinetics of agroforestry biomass based on distributed activation energy model method

Abstract

Pyrolysis behavior and kinetics of three typical agroforestry biomasses including apricot shell, wheat straw and poplar sawdust were investigated by thermogravimetric mass spectrometry (TG-MS). The results show that the differences of the main components make the three biomasses exhibit different characteristics in the main reaction range (200–450 °C). It is found that the average activation energy of apricot shell, straw and sawdust is 188.22, 220.77, and 175.87 kJ/mol, respectively based on the typical isoconversional methods. The average activation energy of each component in biomass was calculated by the distributed activation energy model (DAEM) method, indicating that there is a fourth component with high average activation energy in biomass (297.44 kJ/mol for apricot shell, 284.35 kJ/mol for straw and 309.96 kJ/mol for sawdust). The activation energy of hemicellulose and cellulose shows an increasing order of straw < apricot shell < sawdust. The two kinds of kinetics methods are complementary to each other. The overall calculation results by the isoconversional method are close to those by the single-component distributed activation energy model method, but the isoconversional method is simpler; while the distributed activation energy model method can be used to obtain the kinetic parameters of different components of raw materials, which makes up for the deficiency of the isoconversional method. A combined use of the two methods can form a more comprehensive understanding of the pyrolysis reaction.