Estimating the Pyrolysis Kinetic Parameters of Coal, Biomass, and Their Blends: A Comparative Study

Abhijit Bhagavatula, Naresh Shah, Rick Honaker

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

23 Scopus citations

Abstract

The pyrolysis kinetic parameters of two coal ranks (DECS-25 lignite and DECS-38 sub-bituminous), two biomass materials (corn stover and switchgrass), and their respective blends were investigated at various heating rates ranging between 5 and 40°C/min using thermogravimetric analysis. Complex models for devolatilization of the feedstocks were solved for obtaining and predicting the global kinetic parameters. Distributed activation energy model (method 1) and matrix inversion algorithm (method 2) were utilized and compared for this purpose. The results indicate that the matrix inversion algorithm predicts the kinetic parameters such that the weight loss characteristics can be best represented for both single fuels as well as that of blended materials. The algorithm can also be used for determining the number of reactions occurring in the devolatilization temperature interval. The number of reactions occurring during the devolatilization of blended materials falls between those that occur during the devolatilization of single fuels and the number of reactions gradually decrease with increase of biomass concentration in the blend. In addition, weight loss characteristics of fuel blends at unknown heating rates can be effectively predicted within 1% error through the use of this algorithm.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)10045-10054
Number of pages10
JournalEnergy and Fuels
Volume30
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 15 2016

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 American Chemical Society.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Chemical Engineering
  • Fuel Technology
  • Energy Engineering and Power Technology

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