Study on non-isothermal pyrolysis of Azadirachta Indica for kinetic triplets and thermodynamics evaluation

Abstract

Exploring kinetics and thermodynamics of biomass pyrolysis process is imperative for optimizing the process. This study employs various model-free iso‐conversional methods and a model-fitting method to investigate the kinetics and thermodynamics of non-isothermal pyrolysis of Azadirachta indica biomass under four distinct heating rates of 10, 20, 30 and 40 °C/min. Average values of activation energy and pre-exponential factor ranged from 187.613 to 196.635 kJ/mol and 5.068×1014 − 1.178×1022 min−1, respectively, indicating an endothermic and complex nature of reaction. Integral master plots proved superior in revealing the reaction mechanism, although Criado's master plot unveiled a combination of reaction models, aligning with the intricate degradation mechanisms of biopolymers. The average enthalpy change, Gibbs free energy change and entropy change values spanned from 182.425 to 191.638 kJ/mol, from 167.288 to 173.742 kJ/mol and from 0.014 to 0.039 kJ/mol·K, respectively.