Thermal, kinetic and thermodynamic study for co-pyrolysis of pine needles and styrofoam using thermogravimetric analysis

This study investigate the thermal decomposition behavior of pine needles (PN), styrofoam (SF) as well as their mixture at ratio of 1:1 (w/w), determine the kinetic and thermodynamic parameters for co-pyrolysis of PN and SF using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) data. The co-pyrolysis experiments were performed in an inert environment (N-2) at three variable heating rates of 5,10 and 20 degrees C/min in TG analyzer from 35 to 850 degrees C. TGA outcomes represent that the thermal degradation of PN occurred in three stages, while SF degradation took place in a single stage and degradation of their mixture occurred in three stages. Model-free methods such as Ozawa-Flynn-Wall (OFW) and Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose (KAS) were employed to findout the activation energy (E-a) for co-pyrolysis of PN and SF. Moreover, the thermodynamic parameters (changes in enthalpy, Gibbs free energy and entropy) were also determined by OFW method. The pre-exponential factors were also evaluated by model-fitting (Coats-Redfern) method. The average of E-a for co-pyrolysis of PN and SF determined by KAS and OFW methods was 96.44 and 109.73 kJ/mol, respectively. The results of this study suggest that PN and SF mixture has potential to be used as a pyrolysis feedstocks. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study investigated the thermal decomposition behavior of pine needles, styrofoam, and their mixture, and determined the kinetic and thermodynamic parameters for the co-pyrolysis of PN and SF using TGA data. The results suggest that the PN and SF mixture has potential to be used as pyrolysis feedstocks.