Thermal decomposition profile and product selectivity of analytical pyrolysis of sweet sorghum bagasse: Effect of addition of inorganic salts

Sweet sorghum is an important biomass in biofuels and value-added chemicals production. This work studied the effects of inorganic chlorides in the analytical pyrolysis of sweet sorghum bagasse. Two inorganic chlorides were used: ZnCl2 and MgCl2 center dot 6H(2)O. The thermal decomposition kinetics of this biomass was investigated by thermogravimetric analysis. The results indicated that the addition of inorganic salts modified the degradation profile of sweet sorghum bagasse. A decrease in the maximum degradation rate was observed for both hemicellulose and cellulose fractions in the assays with addition of ZnCl2. Tests with MgCl2 showed a significant decrease in the peak corresponding to hemicellulose. In the presence of both salts, a solid residues increase was observed. The large amount of non-oxygenated compounds (isoprene and limonene), which are obtained from the analytical pyrolysis of pure sweet sorghum bagasse, may indicate the formation of a bio-oil chemically more stable than the bio-oil produced from another biomass. On the other hand, the addition of salts led to an increase in the content of furfural, especially in the test with ZnCl2. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.