Pyrolysis kinetics and thermal behavior of waste sawdust biomass using thermogravimetric analysis

Thermogravimetric kinetics of lignocellulosic biomass slow pyrolysis using distributed activation energy model, Fraser–Suzuki deconvolution, and iso-conversional method

As a staple food for much of the world, rice production is widespread. However, it also results in the generation of large quantities of non-food biomass, primarily in the form of straw and husks. Although they have been little utilized and much rice straw is still simply burned, these lignocellulosic materials potentially have considerable values. This review considers the composition of rice straw and husks, the various processes involved in the production of valuable products, and a range of uses to which they can be put. These include agricultural amendments, energy production, environmental adsorbents, construction materials, and various speciality products.

Utilization of Waste Straw and Husks from Rice Production: A Review

This review on current US municipal solid waste-to-energy trends highlighted regional contrasts on technology adoption, unique challenges of each technology, commonly used decision support tools, and major operators. In US only 13% of MSW is used for energy recovery and 53% is landfilled. There are 86 WTE facilities that mostly use Mass-Burn and Refuse-Derived Fuel technologies and are concentrated in densely populated northeast (predominantly in New York) and the State of Florida. For the rest of the country most of the MSW ends up in landfills equipped with gas recovery, which is supplied to homes or used for electricity generation. However, there are many pilot and experimental systems based on advanced gasification and pyrolysis processes, which are viewed as potential technologies to respond to an issue of landfills nearing full capacity in various US states. These systems are viewed as “cleaner” (65% less toxic residue) than established mass burn technologies but not matured to commercialization due technical and cost hurdles. Operation and maintenance costs between $40-$100 per ton of MSW were reported for gasification systems. The heterogeneous nature of MSW, gas cleaning and air pollution controls are the main disadvantages. Key design and decision support tools used by the scientific community and major operators in US include: Techno-economic analysis, Life cycle sustainability assessment, and Reverse logistics modeling. A conclusion drawn from reviewed studies is that adoption of thermal WTE technologies in US could continue to increase, albeit slowly, in coastal and urban areas lacking suitable lands for new landfills.

A review on municipal solid waste-to-energy trends in the USA

Review on biomass feedstocks, pyrolysis mechanism and physicochemical properties of biochar: State-of-the-art framework to speed up vision of circular bioeconomy

Pyrolysis characteristics and kinetic parameters determination of biomass fuel powders by differential thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA/DTG)

Biomass raw materials are widely regarded as a significant source of renewable energy, which significantly reduces the dependence on traditional fossil fuels, especially in the case of countries that are able to obtain biomass from various sources. Recently, pelletization has been widely used for mass and energy densification of biomass to overcome the problems associated with raw material use. As the global pellet market has developed quickly, the use of wood residues became no longer sufficient to fulfill the market needs. The standards of pellets provide limits for both physical and mechanical characteristics of produced pellets. Characteristics of produced pellets depend mainly on the feedstock characteristics as particle size and moisture content and operating conditions as applied pressure and die temperature. Thus, this paper provides rich information on the factors affecting the physical and mechanical properties of granules included in pellets. The main goal of the paper is to review the latest and comprehensive research on the physical and mechanical properties of most types of single and mixed pellets from biomass. The analysis of the effect of properties, adhesives, humidity, pressure and temperature as well as the physical and mechanical properties of the pellets studied was carried out. In addition, the critical and optimal values of various factors for different materials in which the following is of importance: high quality of pellets and biomass from which they are produced were analyzed. The principle and effect of applying post-production conditions as steam explosion and torrefaction on the characteristics of the pellets were reviewed in details. Moreover, this study proposes some recommendations for further development of the pelletization analysis and characteristics.

The significance of pelletization operating conditions: An analysis of physical and mechanical characteristics as well as energy consumption of biomass pellets

Investigation of turbulent heat transfer and fluid flow in longitudinal rectangular-fin arrays of different geometries and shrouded fin array

A TG/DTG and DTA measurements are used to determine the kinetics of the thermal decomposition of two Egyptian biomasses (sugarcane bagasse and cotton stalks powders) at three heating rates of 10, 15 and 20 °C/min. Two distinct reaction zones were observed for the two biomasses. The direct Arrhenius plot method and integral method were applied to (TG/DTG) analysis for determination of kinetic parameters: activation energy, pre-exponential factor, and order of reaction. The weight loss curve showed that pyrolysis of sugarcane bagasse and cotton stalks took place mainly in the range of 200–500 °C. Also, the activation energy of a phase transition can be calculated directly from the DTA thermogram of each biomass material. Heating rates had little effect on the pyrolysis process, but the peak of the weight loss rate in the DTG curves shifted towards higher temperature with heating rate. The activation energy of the sugarcane bagasse powder obtained by the direct Arrhenius plot method are 48.25, 57.15 and 45.35 kJ/mol for the heat rate of 10, 15 and 20 °C/min, respectively. On the other side, the integral method shows larger values of the activation energy for sugarcane bagasse (82.5, 78.5 and 56.7 kJ/mol for the heat rate of 10, 15 and 20 °C/min, respectively). The activation energy of the cotton stalks powder obtained by the direct Arrhenius plot method are 100, 80 and 68 kJ/mol for the heat rate 10, 15 and 20 °C/min, respectively, but the integral method shows larger values of activation energy (100, 107 and 101 kJ/mol for the heat rate of 10, 15 and 20 °C/min, respectively). The calculated activation energy by DTA analysis was found to be 81.77 and 84.75 kJ/mol for sugarcane bagasse and cotton stalks, respectively. These values are, to some extent, in agreement with the data obtained by direct and integral methods. The cotton stalks are more reactive than the sugarcane bagasse.

Kinetic Parameters Determination of Biomass Pyrolysis Fuels Using TGA and DTA Techniques

The present work is attempting to focus on thermal degradation properties and the kinetics of pyrolysis for biomass samples like wheat straw, wheat dust, and corn cob using thermogravimetric analysis in a nitrogen atmosphere at heating rates of 10, 15, and 20 K/min. It appears that as the heating rate is increased, the thermal degradation process is delayed and the main step of mass loss takes place between 250 °C and 400 °C, with about 75% loss of the initial mass of the sample. The ignition and burnout temperature values of biomass samples are determined at different heating rates. It was found that corn cob has the highest values. Proximate and ultimate analysis of the three biomass fuels was investigated as corn cob has the highest heating and volatile matter values (3971.86 Cal/gm and 84%, respectively). Kinetics parameters such as activation energy, frequency factor, and reaction order are determined using integral and sequential methods.

Saad A. El-Sayed

Papers

Pyrolysis characteristics and kinetic parameters determination of biomass fuel powders by differential thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA/DTG)

The significance of pelletization operating conditions: An analysis of physical and mechanical characteristics as well as energy consumption of biomass pellets

Investigation of turbulent heat transfer and fluid flow in longitudinal rectangular-fin arrays of different geometries and shrouded fin array

Kinetic Parameters Determination of Biomass Pyrolysis Fuels Using TGA and DTA Techniques

Effect of heating rate on the chemical kinetics of different biomass pyrolysis materials