Thermogravimetric Kinetics of Catalytic Pyrolysis of Sugarcane Bagasse over Nickel-Cerium/HZSM-5 Catalyst

Abstract

The objective of this research is to investigate the performance of Nickel-Cerium/HZSM-5 catalyst on pyrolysis of sugarcane bagasse and kinetic analysis via thermogravimetric analyzer. The sample is pyrolyzed from 30 to 700 °C at multiple heating rates (5, 10, 20, and 30 °C/min) in a nitrogen environment. The HZSM-5 was used as a support, while nickel and cerium were impregnated as promoters via incipient wetness impregnation method. For catalytic samples, the catalyst to biomass ratio was fixed at 1:1. The kinetic analysis of non-catalytic and catalytic pyrolysis was performed using the Flynn-Wall-Ozawa and Coats-Redfern methods. The catalytic pyrolysis has achieved higher activation energy (2.87 – 68.92 kJ/mol) over conversion than the non-catalytic pyrolysis (24.20 – 122.33 kJ/mol) using the Flynn-Wall-Ozawa method. The reaction mechanism of non-catalytic and catalytic pyrolysis follows power law (n=1) and chemical reaction (n=2) respectively via the Coats-Redfern method.