Thermogravimetric Analysis of KCl-Pretreated Soybean Stalk

Abstract

To study the influence of KCl pretreating on the pyrolysis kinetics of soybean stalk, the pyrolysis of soybean stalk pretreated by different concentration KCl solutions were performed by nonisothermal thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) at five different heating rates. The Ozawa method was employed to calculate the activation energy. The results showed that the pyrolysis process of the soybean stalk pretreated by 3% and 10% KCl solution can be separated into four stages (water loss, depolymerization and vitrification, thermal decomposition, and carbonization). With the heating rate increasing, the main pyrolysis zone of the TG (thermogravimetric) and DTG curves move to the higher temperature region, and the maximum pyrolysis rate and its corresponding temperature increase too. A small amount of metal salts addition is conducive to the formation of volatile, and a certain amount of metal salts can improve the charcoal yield. More KCl additive makes the lower activation energy value, and the obtained activation energy value increases with the reaction degree.