Devolatilization Stage Research Articles

Bio-Gaseous Fuels from Agricultural Waste Pyrolysis (Part I)

The study, presented in two parts, puts in discussion the experimental results of low and high temperature pyrolysis on agricultural residues using a tubular batch reactor. During the experiment, nitrogen was used both as reaction environment and gas products carrier. The work focusses mainly on the pyrolysis gas analytical composition resulted from the process. The first part of the research is dedicated to the effect of process low temperature on rape straw pyrolysis. The experiments were conducted at 300°C, 400°C and 500°C to observe the solid – gas transformation at relative low temperatures. The main results revealed that, by balancing the amount of the nitrogen, the rape straw pyrolysis gas distribution varies by average between: 72%-77% CO2, 22%-24% CO, 1%-4% H2. The density of the gas in the devolatilization stage varies by average between 1.6-1.7 kg/m3, while its higher heating value ranges from 4 MJ/Nm3 - 8 MJ/Nm3.

New advances in the mathematical modeling of the continuous bulk process for the production of high‐impact polystyrene using multifunctional initiators

New advances in the mathematical modeling of the bulk continuous high‐impact polystyrene (HIPS) process are presented. The model consists of three modules that allow the simulation of: (1) a polymerization reactor train, (2) a devolatilization (DV) stage, and (3) structure–properties relationships. The model is based on a kinetic mechanism that includes thermal initiation, chemical initiation by sequential decomposition of a multifunctional initiator, propagation, transfer to monomer, transfer to rubber, termination by combination and re‐initiation, as well as high temperature crosslinking and oligomer generation reactions. The present model is comprehensive from a kinetic perspective, since it can be used to simulate a HIPS process using initiators of any functionality and structure. The model is adjusted and validated using previously unpublished experimental data for bulk continuous HIPS polymerization in a pilot‐scale plant. The experimental work includes a series of polymerizations using three different multifunctional initiators: (1) luperox‐331 M80 (L331), (2) pinacolone diperoxide, and (3) diethyl ketone triperoxide. The pilot plant comprised the main stages of an industrial HIPS process: prepolymerization, finishing and DV. Theoretical results show a good agreement with the experimental measurements. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 59:E231–E246, 2019. © 2018 Society of Plastics Engineers

Towards oxy-steam combustion: The effect of increasing the steam concentration on coal reactivity

Oxy-steam combustion and devolatilization performance of three different coals (anthracite, blend of bituminous coals and low-rank coal) was studied in a thermobalance with a water vapour furnace under variable steam concentrations (0, 20, 40 and 70 vol% H2O) in N2 and CO2. Two oxygen concentrations were used during the combustion tests (20 and 30 vol%). Devolatilization behaviour was similar under N2 and CO2 atmosphere and increasing steam concentration did not affect significantly the observed reactivity and the reaction temperature range. Replacing CO2 with 20 vol% H2O during combustion tests produced a decrease in ignition and burnout temperatures. When H2O content increased to 40 and 70 vol%, this effect was only found with high-rank anthracite. Maximum mass loss rates for the low-rank coal with high volatile content were up to four times higher than with the other two coals. During direct oxidation experiments, DTG curves of anthracite and the coal blend showed a double peak, corresponding to devolatilization and oxidation reactions. This allowed determining independent kinetic parameters (Ea and A) for both stages. An only DTG peak was detected with the low-rank coal since devolatilization and oxidation reactions took place simultaneously owing to its high reactivity. Devolatilization and oxidation kinetics followed a first-order reaction using the Coats-Redfern integral method. Significant differences were not observed between the activation energies of the three coals when comparing conventional (N2), oxy-fuel (CO2) and oxy-steam conditions (70 vol% H2O in CO2), although Ea values were higher for the devolatilization stage than for the oxidation process.

Correlation between mechanical properties and thermochemical behaviours of waste papers in their early devolatilization stage

This article details a correlation study on early devolatilization behaviors (drying & volatile emission at 25–240 °C) and the change in mechanical properties (expressed by viscoelasticity) of four types of waste papers. The early stage of devolatilization was investigated using the TG-FTIR and mechanical properties using the dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) method. The results show that the elastic and viscous mechanical properties showed obvious correlations with free and bound water evaporation and volatile emission. The storage modulus (E′) and loss modulus (E″) of the papers decreased as temperature increased and at the two important temperatures, namely 100 °C, the start of bound water evaporation, and 150 °C, the start of devolatilization in TG & DTG curves, E′ showed extrema. Especially the relative storage modulus (E′r) exhibited a sudden decrease at around 150 °C, where the activation energy of thermochemical conversion jumps from low values to high values, indicating the start of devolatilization. CO2 is the major compound of the volatiles and it is well correlated with E′r in exponential function model and can be used as an index for predicting the E′r of the waste papers in their early devolatilization stage; while during the drying stage, mass loss ratio can be used to predict E′r of the waste papers.

Spatially and temporally resolved IR-DFWM measurement of HCN released from gasification of biomass pellets

For the first time, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, nonintrusive quantitative measurement of hydrogen cyanide (HCN) released during the devolatilization phase of straw pellets gasification is demonstrated with high spatial and temporal resolution. Mid-infrared degenerate four-wave mixing (IR-DFWM) measurements of HCN were performed by probing the interference-free P(20) line in the v1 vibrational band at around 3 µm and the IR-DFWM signal was detected with an upconversion-based detector, providing discrimination of thermal noise and increased sensitivity. A novel single-pellet setup consisting of a multi-jet burner was used to provide hot flue gas environments with an even and well-defined temperature distribution, for single straw pellet gasification at atmospheric pressure. The environments had temperatures of 1380 K, 1540 K and 1630 K with a constant oxygen concentration of 0.5 vol%. In order to quantify the amount of HCN released during the devolatilization of straw pellets, calibration measurements were performed in well-defined HCN gas flows. Selected hot water lines were probed with IR-DFWM in the interrogated volume to obtain the instantaneous temperature, which were used to correct the temperature effect. HCN concentrations up to 1500 ppm were detected during the devolatilization stage, and the results indicate a strong temperature dependence of the HCN release.

Release and Transformation Pathways of Various K Species during Thermal Conversion of Agricultural Straw. Part 1: Devolatilization Stage

The serious K-induced ash problems during biomass thermal conversion are closely related to release and transformation behaviors of K. The aim of this work is to explore the contribution of differe...

Experimental investigation of tar formation and producer gas composition in biomass steam gasification in a 100 kW dual fluidised bed gasifier

Abstract In this study, three types of biomass including corn stover, radiata pine wood and rice husk in the form of pellets were gasified with steam as gasification agent in a 100 kW dual fluidised bed gasifier. Tar formation in initial devolatilization stage and its correlation to the final tar concentration in the producer gas were investigated. In addition, the yields and composition of the producer gas for each type of biomass were also examined. In the gasification experiments, operating temperature was controlled, respectively, at 700 °C and 800 °C. Silica sand was used as the bed material with an inventory of 30 kg. For simulation of the initial devolatilization stage in the steam gasification, N2 was used as fluidization agent. From this study, it is found that there was a positive correlation between tar contents in the devolatilization product gas and those in the final producer gas from gasification. In the devolatilization stage, radiata pine biomass yielded more phenols, while corn stover generated more toluene. Based on the results of this study, tar formation mechanism was proposed which is verified by the observation that more naphthalene was present in the producer gas from gasification of radiata pine while gasification of corn stover produced more biphenyl. The experimental results also show that at gasification temperature of 700 °C, the producer gas yield was the highest for corn stover followed by rice husk and then radiata pine wood. However, for gasification at 800 °C, the trend was reversed with radiata pine having the highest yield followed by risk husk and the corn stover. At both 700 and 800 °C, the radiata pine biomass produced a producer gas with higher contents of H2 and CH4 while the producer gas from rice husk had a higher content of CO and that from corn stover had a higher content of CO2, C2H4 and C2H6. These differences are closely related to the chemical composition of the biomass which was also analysed in this study. Radiata pine had a higher content of lignin (31.96 wt%), rice husk had a higher content of hemicellulose (25.30 wt%) while corn stover was rich in cellulose (69.85 wt%).

Gas phase combustion in the vicinity of a biomass particle during devolatilization – Model development and experimental verification

A numerical and experimental study on the devolatilization of a large biomass particle is carried out to quantify the effect of homogeneous volatile combustion on the conversion of the particle and on the temperature and species distribution at the particle vicinity. A global chemical kinetic mechanism and a detailed reaction mechanism are considered in a one dimensional numerical model that takes into account preferential diffusivity and a detailed composition of tar species. An adaptive moving mesh is employed to capture the changes in the domain due to particle shrinkage. The effect of gas phase reactions on pyrolysis time, temperature and species distribution close to the particle is studied and compared to experiments. Online in situ measurements of average H2O mole fraction and gas temperature above a softwood pellet are conducted in a reactor using tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) while recording the particle mass loss. The results show that the volatile combustion plays an important role in the prediction of biomass conversion during the devolatilization stage. It is shown that the global reaction mechanism predicts a thin flame front in the vicinity of the particle deviating from the measured temperature and H2O distribution over different heights above the particle. A better agreement between numerical and experimental results is obtained using the detailed reaction mechanism, which predicts a wider reaction zone.

The effect of carbon dioxide on flame propagation speed of wood combustion in a fixed bed under oxy-fuel conditions

This paper presents an investigation of wood combustion in a laboratory-scale fixed bed with an aim of establishing the effect of CO2 environment on flame propagation speed and flame structures. Different oxy-fuel combustion atmospheres in which the composition of O2 in CO2 was varied from 21% to 50% by volume were tested and compared to air-fuel condition. Euler-Lagrange (Computational Fluid Dynamics - Discrete Element Method, CFD-DEM) approach which captures information of individual particle processes is used to model wood conversion in a packed bed. Results show that flame front propagation speed in oxy-fuel atmosphere reduced to 78% of that of the air-fuel condition with similar O2 concentration. For oxy-fuel conditions, propagation speed increased with increase in O2 concentration. The CFD-DEM model agrees very well with experimental values for mass loss, propagation speed and flame front positions. However, peak temperatures are poorly predicted at lower oxygen concentrations. The accuracy of temperature prediction improves at higher oxygen concentrations. During initial and devolatilization stage, mass fraction of tar predicted in CO2 environment are smaller than in N2 environment, while the amount of CO predicted is almost equal in both environments. However, during char combustion stage a high amount of CO is observed in oxy-fuel conditions.

Conversion of industrial biowastes to clean solid fuels via hydrothermal carbonization (HTC): Upgrading mechanism in relation to coalification process and combustion behavior

The aim of this work was to study the correlation between dynamic mechanisms of carbon structure associated with their upgrading effects with the help of XPS, 13C NMR and 2D-PCIS methods. Results showed the fuel qualifies of biowastes were improved and became comparable to lignite or even bitumite after HTC. The carbon chemical bonds of –C–H and –C–O in biowaste components (mainly protein and polysaccharide) were thermally cracked and enriched in liquid phase in the form of soluble intermediates, which subsequently generated coal-like structures via cyclization as well as polymerization at higher temperatures. The further investigation on thermogravimetric analysis found that the conversion of “–C–H/C–O to aromatic –C–C/CC” was beneficial for stabilizing their combustion behavior by integrating two stages of biowastes (devolatilization stage and combustion stage) into one stage of hydrochars (combustion stage).

Measurement and kinetics of elemental and atomic potassium release from a burning biomass pellet

Combining polarizing-filtered planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) with simultaneous laser absorption, quantitative laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) and two-color pyrometry, the potassium release during the combustion of biomass fuels (corn straw and poplar) has been investigated. The temporal release profiles of volatile atomic potassium and potassium compounds from a corn straw show a single peak. The woody biomass, poplar, produces a dual-maxima distribution for potassium and potassium compounds. For both biomass samples, the highest concentrations of released atomic potassium and potassium compounds occur in the devolatilization stage. The mass ratios between volatile atomic potassium and potassium compounds in the corn straw and poplar cases are 0.77% and 0.79%, respectively. These values agree well with chemical equilibrium predictions that 0.68% of total potassium will be in atomic form. A two-step kinetic model of potassium release has been developed, which gives better predictions during the devolatilization stage than the existing single-step model. Finally, a map of potassium transformation processes during combustion is developed. Starting with inorganic and organic potassium, there are eight proposed transformation pathways including five proposed release pathways that occur during the combustion. The pathways describe the transformation of potassium between the fuel volatile matter, char, and ash. Potassium release during the devolatilization stage is due to pyrolysis and evaporation; during the char burnout stage, potassium release is due to char oxidation and decomposition; and during the ash cooking stage, potassium release is caused by reactions between the ash and H2O in the co-flow.

Mechanism on the contribution of coal/char fragmentation to fly ash formation during pulverized coal combustion

In this paper, the correlations between coal/char fragmentation and fly ash formation during pulverized coal combustion are investigated. We observed an explosion-like fragmentation of Zhundong coal in the early devolatilization stage by means of high-speed photography in the Hencken flat-flame burner. While high ash-fusion (HAF) bituminous and coal-derived char samples only undergo gentle perimeter fragmentation in the char burning stage. Simultaneously, combustion experiments of two kinds of coals were conducted in a 25 kW down-fired combustor. The particle size distributions (PSDs) of both fine particulates (PM1-10) and bulk fly ash (PM10+) were measured by Electrical Low Pressure Impactor (ELPI) and Malvern Mastersizer 2000, respectively. The results show that the mass PSD of residual fly ash (PM1+) from Zhundong coal exhibits a bi-modal shape with two peaks located at 14 µm and 102 µm, whereas that from HAF coal only possesses a single peak at 74 µm. A hybrid model accounting for multiple-route ash formation processes is developed to predict the PSD of fly ash during coal combustion. By incorporating coal/char fragmentation sub-models, the simulation can quantitatively reproduce the measured PM1+ PSDs for different kinds of coals. The sensitivity analysis further reveals that the bi-modal mass distribution of PM1+ intrinsically results from the coal fragmentation during devolatilization.

The combustion performances and thermo-oxidative degradation kinetics of plane tree seeds (PTS) (Platanus orientalis L.)

Combustion characteristics (reactivity and reactivity evaluation, ignition index (Di), burn-out index (Df), combustion performance index (S) and combustion stability index (RW)) and thermo-oxidative degradation kinetics of plane tree seeds (PTS) were investigated. Oxidation analysis shows that PTS exhibits stable and high combustion activity, where comparison of ignition and burn-out index values showed that a more developed pore structures of PTS particles exist, and higher volatile matter content is present. Results are also confirmed through derived experience constant value (ζ) and which were compared with other energy sources. It was established that different maximal reaction rate values at various heating rates point out the PTS complex nature, which is stimulated with carbon oxidation reactions and volatile matter release. Kinetic analysis has shown that process can be divided into two stages: devolatilization stage (280–380 °C) and char combustion stage (380–600 °C). In order to obtain a stable solid product, rich in carbon, the PTS shows good performance but with application of high-temperature processing conditions.

A kinetic study on the catalysis of KCl, K2SO4, and K2CO3 during oxy-biomass combustion

Biomass combustion under the oxy-fuel conditions (Oxy-biomass combustion) is one of the approaches achieving negative CO2 emissions. KCl, K2CO3 and K2SO4, as the major potassium species in biomass ash, can catalytically affect biomass combustion. In this paper, the catalysis of the representative potassium salts on oxy-biomass combustion was studied using a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA). Effects of potassium salt types (KCl, K2CO3 and K2SO4), loading concentrations (0, 1, 3, 5, 8 wt%), replacing N2 by CO2, and O2 concentrations (5, 20, 30 vol%) on the catalysis degree were discussed. The comparison between TG-DTG curves of biomass combustion before and after water washing in both the 20%O2/80%N2 and 20%O2/80%CO2 atmospheres indicates that the water-soluble minerals in biomass play a role in promoting the devolatilization and accelerating the char-oxidation; and the replacement of N2 by CO2 inhibits the devolatilization and char-oxidation processes during oxy-biomass combustion. In the devolatilization stage, the catalysis degree of potassium monotonously increases with the increase of potassium salt loaded concentration. The catalysis degree order of the studied potassium salts is K2CO3 > KCl > K2SO4. In the char-oxidation stage, with the increase of loading concentration the three kinds of potassium salts present inconsistent change tendencies of the catalysis degree. In the studied loading concentrations from 0 to 8 wt%, there is an optimal loading concentration for KCl and K2CO3, at 3 and 5 wt%, respectively; while for K2SO4, the catalysis degree on char-oxidation monotonically increases with the loading potassium concentration. For most studied conditions, regardless of the potassium salt types or the loading concentrations or the combustion stages, the catalysis degree in the O2/CO2 atmosphere is stronger than that in the O2/N2 atmosphere. The catalysis degree is also affected by the O2 concentrations, and the lowest catalysis degree is generally around 20 vol% O2 concentration. The kinetic parameters under the different studied conditions are finally obtained.

Biomass pellet combustion: Cavities and ash formation characterized by synchrotron X-ray micro-tomography

Ash formation during thermochemical conversion of biomass-based pellets influences both char conversion rates and ash-related operational problems. The objective of the present study was to provide detailed insights into changes in fuel and ash properties during fuel conversion. Pellets of poplar wood and wheat straw were used as model biofuels, representing vastly different compositions of ash-forming elements. Pellet samples at different char conversion phases were analyzed by synchrotron-based 3D X-ray micro-tomography, to map and visualize the development of cracks, internal cavities, and ash layers during conversion. The analysis of ash layers was complemented by scanning electron microscopy combined with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The results provide new insights into how large cracks and internal cavities are developed already during devolatilization, for example, the poplar wood pellets had a 64% void fraction after the devolatilization stage. As expected, there were large variations between the ash layer properties for the two fuels. A porous, low density, and calcium-rich ash was formed from the poplar fuel, whereas the wheat straw ash was a high-density silicate melt that developed into bubbles on the surface. As the conversion proceeded, the wheat straw ash covered parts of the active char surface area, but without blocking the gas transport.

Oil sand pyrolysis: Evolution of volatiles and contributions from mineral, bitumen, maltene, and SARA fractions

In order to investigate the pyrolysis behavior through the volatile evolution, pyrolyzer-evolved gas analysis-mass spectrometry and thermogravimetric analysis-mass spectrometry were adopted for in situ analysis and comparison the pyrolytic volatiles derived from two different oil sands as well as their mineral, bitumen, maltene and SARA fractions. For both oil sands, the weight loss and volatile release during the oil-producing process exhibited two stages: a devolatilization stage (<350 °C) and a thermal-cracking stage (350–600 °C). These two stages afforded different volatile yields and displayed distinct activation energy distributions. Additionally, heart-cut analysis indicated that the volatiles were in disparate compositions at each stage. The volatile evolution of the oil sand bitumen, maltene, and SARA fractions revealed individual contributions on volatile release with increasing pyrolysis temperature. Specifically, volatiles in the devolatilization stage predominantly originated from the saturates in maltene. These resulted in a significant amount of polycyclic biomarkers and contributed toward the release of higher-molecular-weight substances over a temperature range of 200–350 °C. The thermal-cracking stage was the main stage in which most of the gaseous and light pyrolytic products, including amounts of alkanes and olefins, were generated. These compounds mostly originated from cracking of resin and asphaltenes. The aromatic fraction was observed that released volatiles in both stages. Thus, due to the disparity in temperature region for volatile release, the volatile yields during the different stages of the process were mainly determined from the organic constituents of the oil sand. Notably, the volatile compositions predominantly correlated to the original organic structures. Moreover, the minerals exhibited little influence during the oil-producing stage of the two oil sand samples under the tested heating conditions. However, the presence of interactions between these organic sub-fractions during oil sand pyrolysis is suggested.

Insights into the evolution of fuel-N to NOx precursors during pyrolysis of N-rich nonlignocellulosic biomass

Pyrolysis of N-rich nonlignocellulosic biomass is a promising way to their energy utilization, in which the evolution of fuel-N may result in serious emission of N-containing pollution due to abundant nitrogen content in them. Understanding of specific evolution pathways of fuel-N to NOx precursors is significant. Based on two typical species with highest nitrogen content from different nitrogen origins - cultivated chlorella microalgae (CMA) and penicillin mycelia waste (PMW), characteristics of NOx precursors and relevant nitrogen functionalities in chars/tars with the temperature were fully analyzed and compared. Subsequently, evolution mechanisms of fuel-N to NOx precursors and their possible reaction pathways were in detail elucidated. Results revealed that overwhelming similarities on the evolution mechanisms were observed for two species based on their main similar nitrogen functionalities - N-A (amino-N/amide-N/amine-N) types, which was characterized by different pyrolysis stages. Around 80% of NH3-N yield was produced at devolatilisation stage, which was attributed to cyclization of more stable N-A into pyridinic-N/pyrrolic-N in chars, bond clearage of more liable N-A into amine-N in tars and further cyclization of amine-N into heterocyclic-N in tars. On the contrary, More than 90% of HCN-N yield was generated at secondary reaction stage due to a basically equal contribution from char-N and tar-N. The relevant pathways were ring scission of pyrrolic-N (chars) while ring-opening of heterocyclic-N (chars) and dehydrogenation of imines (tars). Besides, the additional mild HCN-N yield (devolatilisation stage) and limited NH3-N yield (secondary reaction stage) originated from dehydrogenation of amine-N in tars and hydrogenation of pyridinic-N in chars/bimolecular reaction of amine-N in tars, respectively. Particularly, two biomass species had an opposite sequence on the increasing rate of NH3-N yield (CMA > PMW) at devolatilisation stage and HCN-N yield (PMW > CMA) at secondary reaction stage. As a consequence, these findings could be well applied for N-rich nonlignocellulosic biomass containing similar fuel-N types, and to some extent provide guidance on the control of nitrogenous pollution emission for their energy utilization.

Pyrolysis of Waste Castor Seed Cake: A Thermo-Kinetics Study

Biomass pyrolysis is a thermo-chemical conversion process that is of both industrial and ecological importance. The efficient chemical transformation of waste biomass to numerous products via pyrolysis reactions depends on process kinetic rates; hence the need for kinetic models to best design and operate the pyrolysis. Also, for an efficient design of an environmentally sustainable pyrolysis process of a specific lignocellulosic waste, a proper understanding of its thermo-kinetic behavior is imperative. Thus, pyrolysis kinetics of castor seed de-oiled cake (Ricinus communis) using thermogravimetric technique was studied. The decomposition of the cake was carried out in a nitrogen atmosphere with a flow rate of 100mL min-1 from ambient temperature to 900 °C. The results of the thermal profile showed moisture removal and devolatilization stages, and maximum decomposition of the cake occurred at a temperature of 200-400 °C. The kinetic parameters such as apparent activation energy, pre-exponential factor, and order of reaction were determined using Friedman (FD), Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose (KAS), and Flynn-Wall-Ozawa (FWO) kinetic models. The average apparent activation energy values of 124.61, 126.95 and 129.80 kJmol-1 were calculated from the slopes of the respective models. The apparent activation energy values obtained depends on conversion, which is an evidence of multi-step kinetic process during the pyrolytic decomposition of the cake. The kinetic data would be of immense benefit to model, design and develop a suitable thermo-chemical system for the conversion of waste de-oil cake to energy carrier.

An Eulerian model for the simulation of the thermal conversion of a single large biomass particle

This paper presents a comprehensive model for simulating the combustion of large biomass particles. The model implements a set of Eulerian variables that represent the components of solid biomass in a commercial CFD code. The evolution of these variables represents the thermal conversion of biomass and its interaction with the gas flow. The model consists of several reaction submodels of heat transfer and species diffusion. A wood shrinkage submodel was also proposed, and it acts locally in cells according to calculations of the consumption densities and globally in the particle according to mass and energy movements across the mesh. An experimental reactor, in which a biomass particle was irradiated with a xenon lamp, was modelled to simulate the drying and devolatilization stages under controlled conditions. Two documented experiments were simulated, and the predictions were compared with the experimental results. The temperature evolution of the particle at several depths was analysed, and a qualitative comparison of the particle shrinkage was performed. The comparison yielded reasonably good predictions for temperatures inside the particle and similar trends in log shrinkage despite some uncertainties regarding the biomass composition and experimental conditions.

Pyrolysis of Mango Residues: A Statistic Analysis on Nonlinear Models Used to Describe the Drying Stage

Mango seeds are a lignocellulosic waste produced in the agroindustry, and they are available in large quantities in tropical countries. A better alternative to employ mango residues is through pyrolysis. Most equations used in the representation of the drying stage of biomass pyrolysis are nonlinear; therefore, estimating parameters based on experimental data requires attention. In some situations, estimators (especially confidence intervals) may not be appropriate. This work presents a drying kinetics study on mango seed shells using thermogravimetric data. Some non-isothermal models were analyzed to predict the drying kinetic behavior, and some nonlinearity measures were used as a tool to correctly estimate the drying kinetic parameters. The drying behavior of this biomass was best described using the Henderson equation, which showed non-significance for bias and nonlinearity measures. Kinetic analysis of pyrolysis was performed using the Ozawa method in a wide range of conversions (0.13–0.75) in the devolatilization stage. The activation energy values found for mango seeds were within the range reported in the literature for lignocellulosic biomass.