Investigation of thermal degradation of different wood-based biofuels of the northwest region of the Russian Federation

Abstract

The thermal degradation of different wood biofuels collected in the Arkhangelsk region (northwest of the Russian Federation) was investigated in order to extract their kinetic parameters. Thermogravimetric analysis was carried out for small samples under inert atmosphere or air. These samples were heated from 20 to 1300 � C under three heating rates of 5, 10 or 20 � C min -1 . The mass loss rates were measured during the drying, devolatilization and char combustion processes. Average values of the activation energies were determined using Friedman's and Ozawa- Flynn-Wall's methods under inert atmosphere and air. The morphological analysis of raw samples and of the corre- sponding chars was also performed. Pore development presents an effective impact on char reactivity. These experimental results and the kinetic data obtained in this work should be considered for the simulation of the pyrolysis and combustion processes of different biofuels in industrial devices.