Mixture of biomass to energy reuse

Abstract

Focusing on the reuse of the energy and aiming at the thermal and kinetic characterization of sewage sludge and its mixture, with pruning residues (50 mass%), the thermogravimetry was used. The kinetic study was elaborated from the local isoconversional integral method in heating rates 10.0, 20.0 and 30.0 °C min−1 at a temperature ranging from 219 to 386 °C at nitrogen atmosphere, in a flow of 100 mL min−1. The average activation energy of sewage sludge sample revealed the value of 219 kJ mol−1 and that of the mixture 161 kJ mol−1, supporting the incorporation of pruning residues in the sewage sludge. During the degradation process, a remarkable increase in activation energy was noticed that ranged from 20 to 70% conversion in the sewage sludge sample, and regarding the mixture, an almost linear behavior was observed during the decomposition reaction. There was no evidence of kinetic compensation effect in the performed studies. The evaluation of the thermal characteristics, as well as the kinetic study of the degradation of sewage sludge and its mixture with pruning residues, can lead to important insights and contribute to a better use of energy regarding the environmental issues.