Isoconversional kinetic study of the thermal decomposition of sugarcane straw for thermal conversion processes

The aim of this work was investigate the kinetics of the thermal decomposition reaction of sugarcane straw. The thermal decomposition experiments were conducted at four heating rates (1.25, 2.5, 5 and 10 degrees C/min) in a thermogravimetric analyzer using nitrogen as inert atmosphere. The kinetic analysis was carried out applying the isoconversional method of Friedman, and the activation energies obtained varied from 154.1 kJ/mol to 177.8 kJ/mol. The reaction model was determined through master plots, corresponding to a two-dimensional diffusion. The pre-exponential factor of 1.82 * 10(9) s(-1) was determined by linearization of the conversion rate equation as a function of the inverse of absolute temperature, concerning to activation energy of 149.7 kJ/mol, which are in the order of magnitude for biomass thermal decomposition reported in literature. Finally, the theoretical and experimental conversion data showed a very good agreement, indicating that these results could be used for future process modeling involving sugarcane straw. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.