Pyrolysis of banana leaves biomass: Physico-chemical characterization, thermal decomposition behavior, kinetic and thermodynamic analyses

Abstract

In the present work, non-isothermal thermogravimetric experiments were conducted at three heating rates, viz. 10, 20, and 30 °C/min to study the thermal degradation of banana leaves biomass, where the key objective was to determine the kinetic triplet (activation energy, pre-exponential variable, and reaction model) and thermodynamic parameters. The kinetic study was carried out using five model-free isoconversional methods, viz. Flynn-Wall-Ozawa, Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose, Starink, Friedman, and Kissinger. Results showed that average activation energy ranges between 70.75 and 92.12 kJ/mol for the studied isoconversional model-free methods. The average activation energy obtained by KAS (79.36 kJ/mol) was found to be in the proximity of that obtained by FWO (84.02 kJ/mol). Pre-exponential factor obtained from Kissinger method was found to vary from 107 to 1033 s−1. Master plot showed that data fits well with second order reaction model till 0.2 conversion and then follows third order reaction model from 0.2 to 0.5 conversion.