Wood pyrolysis in high temperature and its kinetics

Abstract

Modeling the reaction kinetics for wood pyrolysis is inherently complex. An. overall rate constant is to be fitted using Arrhenius equation to the entire thermal conversion regimes, which involves concurrent pyrolyzing constituents, and the process is often compounded by wood structural properties. In this article, the thermal, decomposition of untreated hardwood Balau, Kapur, Meranti, and Durian were studied in non-isothermal Thermogravimetry Analysis (TGA) heated, dynamically up to 600°C in an inert atmosphere. The reaction kinetics was obtained using Coats and Redfern's method. Thermal conversion regimes have been redrawn to obtain good linearity of solution models, while differentiating the kinetic parameters into more specific description for each conversion stage. To examine the nature of the observed variations in the data, the kinetic parameters were analyzed for compensation effects, and the enthalpy of transition was studied using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). Based on the redrawn thermal conversion regimes, the kinetic constants strongly endorsed first order reaction and suggested that hardwood decomposed by dehydration pathway at low temperature regime and switched over to depolymerization process as temperature increased. © 2007, Baywood Publishing Co., Inc.