Kinetic study and thermal analysis of the pyrolysis of non-edible oilseed powders by thermogravimetric and differential scanning calorimetric analysis

This work reports the kinetic study of the pyrolysis of four non-edible oil seeds such as Mahua, Karanja, Niger and Linseed conducted at a heating rate of 5, 10 and 15 degrees C min(-1) under nitrogen atmosphere. The relation between kinetic parameters and degradation rate was observed with respect to temperature and heating rate. The results indicated that the kinetic parameters were very close to each other and directly proportional to temperature and heating rate. The comparison of kinetic parameters related to heating rate concluded that heating rate had a direct affinity towards activation energy and pre-exponential factor. The TG-DTG analysis indicated three stages of thermal degradation during pyrolysis of the oil seeds whereas DSC analysis point towards the endothermic and exothermic pathway of pyrolysis. The presence of hemicelluloses, cellulose and lignin was determined on the basis of degradation temperature and their respective functional groups in the seeds observed by FTIR analysis. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.