Comparative Study of the Reaction Kinetics of Three Residual Biomasses

Abstract

Kinetic analysis for the combustion of three agro-industrial biomass residues (coconut husk, corn husk, and rice husk) was carried out in order to provide information for the generation of energy from them. The analysis was performed using the results of the data obtained by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) at three heating rates (10, 20, and 30 K/min). The biomass residues were characterized in terms of proximate analysis, elemental analysis, calorific value, lignin content, α-cellulose content, hemicellulose content, and holocellulose content. The biomass fuels were thermally degraded in an oxidative atmosphere. The results showed that the biomass thermal degradation process is comprised of the combustion of hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin. The kinetic parameters of the distributed activation energy model indicated that the activation energy distribution for the pseudocomponents follows lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose in descending order. The activation energy values for each set of reactions are similar between the heating rates, which suggests that it is independent of the heating rate between 10 K/min and 30 K/min. For all the biomass samples, the increased heating rate resulted in the overlap of the hemicellulose and cellulose degradation events