Kinetic analysis of catalytic slurry oil pyrolysis using thermogravimetric analysis

Abstract

Pyrolysis is an important process for converting unconventional fuels, such as heavy oil, residues and oil sand, to high-value-added light products. And the kinetics in pyrolysis is essential to fully understand and optimize the process. In this work, we present a comprehensive study on the kinetic analysis of the pyrolysis process of catalytic slurry oil (CSO), by-product of fluid catalytic cracking process, using thermogravimetric analysis. Three isoconversional methods were applied for analysis and estimation of parameters for the reaction kinetics. The activation energies calculated using the Ozawa–Flynn–Wall, Friedman and Kissinger–Akahira–Sunose methods are 81.93–131.38 kJ mol−1, 86.57–141.39 kJ mol−1 and 78.72–128.05 kJ mol−1 with conversion from 0.05 to 0.90, respectively. Among the compared methods, Friedman method is free of extra information of reaction model and mathematical assumptions of temperature integral; therefore, it was recommended as the more suitable method for analysis of this process. The activation energy of CSO estimated via the above kinetic analysis was compared with other materials.