An experimental investigation into the gasification reactivity and structure of agricultural waste chars

The gasification reactivity as well as physical and chemical structure of chars generated from two kinds of agricultural waste (i.e. corn straw and wheat straw) were studied to better understand the role of lower pyrolysis temperatures and lower heating rates on the gasification characteristics of agricultural waste chars. Char samples were generated in a one-stage quartz fixed-bed reactor. The carbon dioxide (CO2) gasification reactivity of chars was measured by thermogravimetric (TGA) analysis. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis, surface area (BET) analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis and X-ray diffractometry (XRD) analysis were employed to determine the effect of operating conditions on the char structure. Char gasification reactivities decreased with increasing pyrolysis temperatures. The char particles generated under high pyrolysis temperatures had many smaller pores with thinner cell walls, larger surface areas, and some melting. Results indicated that many functional groups' bands decreased and even disappeared with an increasing pyrolysis temperature. The chars' microcrystalline became larger at high pyrolysis temperatures. The reactivity of wheat straw char is higher than corn straw char. The difference in the gasification reactivity of agricultural waste chars generated at different pyrolysis temperatures correlated well with the effect of pyrolysis temperatures on the agricultural waste char structure. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.