Thermogravimetric study and kinetics of banana peel pyrolysis: a comparison of 'model-free' methods

In this study, a fixed-bed reactor was designed and fabricated to experiment with pyrolysis of banana peel biomass. A thermogravimetric and kinetic study was performed to estimate the optimal parameters for pyrolysis of banana peel biomass. The banana peel underwent pyrolysis in the reactor at 600 degrees C for 45-60 min at different heating rates of 5, 10 and 15 degrees C/min. The bio-oil yield was 11.47, 12.5 and 12.88 mL/100g of biomass used, respectively. Model-free methods were studied to calculate the activation energy of the pyrolysis of banana peel biomass. The average activation energy for the pyrolysis process calculated using the Kissinger, Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose, Flynn-Wall-Ozawa, Friedman and Coats-Redfern method was found to be 108.42, 167.64, 157.42, 181.27 and 201 kJ/mol, respectively. A gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis and the fuel properties of the banana peel pyro-oil are also discussed. The current study shows that banana peel biomass can be used as a viable source for waste-to-energy conversion.

Automated summary

In this study, a fixed-bed reactor was used to experiment with the pyrolysis of banana peel biomass. The optimal parameters for pyrolysis were estimated through thermogravimetric and kinetic analysis. Results showed that banana peel can be a viable source for waste-to-energy conversion.