Study of kinetic parameters of thermal decomposition of bagasse and sugarcane straw using Friedman and Ozawa–Flynn–Wall isoconversional methods

Abstract

Pyrolysis process of sugarcane bagasse and sugarcane straw was studied with the objective of determining the kinetic parameters activation energy (E), logarithm of pre-exponential factor (log A) in agreement with converted fraction (α). The determination of kinetic parameters was done through software thermokinetics by NETZSCH, which associated “Model Free” package enabled the determination of these parameters by Friedman and Ozawa–Flynn–Wall isoconversion models and a probable mechanism that describes the thermal decomposition process of these materials. The thermal degradation of sugarcane bagasse and sugarcane straw was carried out in the range of 303–1073 K under nitrogen flow and the heating rate used was 5, 10, 15, and 20 K min−1. The obtained results showed that the most appropriate kinetic model to describe the thermal decomposition of sugarcane bagasse was the autocatalytic reactions model in three parallel stages (F n C n C n model) and for sugarcane straw was also the autocatalytic reactions model for two parallels reactions (F n C n model).