The paper focuses on collection of information on recent multifaceted usage of biomass materials with critical examination on its sustainability. The use of biomass is becoming popular, with wide global acceptance as it is considered as green technology. The use of biomass products across industrial parallels, the material combination and production processes were elucidated in this paper. Biomass materials are seen as affordable alternative to conventional materials for domestic and industrial applications. The multifaceted use of biomass, which includes, energy generation, metallurgical applications, construction purposes, reinforcement in metal matrix composite, microelectromechanical system, biochemical and traditional medicine were discussed. This underscores the need to develop a sustainable plan to meet with its diverse usage to be beyond laboratory efforts. This paper examined whether the availability of biomass can sustain its multifaceted usage or not. It also examined the modalities to ensure sustainable use of biomass. Different policies were highlighted and discussed in line with continuous multifaceted use of biomass.

A non-isothermal decomposition of Moringa oleifera husk and Delonix regia seed pod was carried out in an N2 pyrolytic condition with the primary objective of undertaking the kinetics modeling, thermodynamics and thermal performance analyses of the identified samples. Three different isoconversional models, namely, differential Friedman, Flynn–Wall–Ozawa, and Starink techniques were utilized for the deduction of the kinetics data. The thermodynamic parameters were deduced from the kinetic data based on a first-order chemical reaction model. In the kinetics study, a strong correlation (R2 > 0.9) was observed throughout the conversion range for all the kinetic models. The activation energy profiles showed two distinctive regions. In the first region, the average activation energy values were relatively higher—a typical example is in the Flynn–Wall–Ozawa technique—MH (199 kJ/mol) and RP (194 kJ/mol), while in the second region, MH (292 kJ/mol) and RP (234 kJ/mol). It was also demonstrated that the thermal process for the samples experienced endothermic reactions thought the conversion range. In summary, both the kinetic and thermodynamic parameters vary significantly with conversion—underscoring the complexity associated with the thermal conversion of lignocellulosic biomass samples.

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This study provides an extensive investigation on the kinetics, combustion characteristics, and thermodynamic parameters of the thermal degradation of guinea grass (Megathyrsus maximus) in N2-pyrolytic and oxidative atmospheres. A model-fitting technique and three different iso-conversional techniques were used to investigate the kinetics of the thermal process, after which an analysis of the combustion characteristics and thermodynamic parameters was undertaken. Prior to this, experiments on the physico-chemical characterization, thermogravimetric, and spectroscopic analyses were carried out to provide insight into the compositional structure of the guinea grass. The volatile matter, fixed carbon, and total lignin contents by mass were 73.0%, 16.1%, and 21.5%, respectively, while the higher heating value was 15.46 MJ/kg. The cellulose crystallinity index, determined by XRD, was 0.43. The conversion of the GG in air proceeded at a relatively much higher rate as the maximum mass-loss rate peak in a 20 K/min read was −23.1 and −12.3%/min for the oxidative and the pyrolytic, respectively. The kinetics investigation revealed three distinctive stages of decomposition with their corresponding values of activation energy. The average values of activation energy (FWO) at the latter stages of decomposition in the pyrolytic processes (165 kJ/mol) were higher than those in the oxidative processes (125 kJ/mol)—an indication of the distinctive phenomenon at this stage of the reaction. The Coats–Redfern kinetic model revealed that chemical reactions and diffusional models played a predominant role in the thermal decomposition process of the GG. This study showed that the thermodynamic parameters varied with the conversion ratio, and the combustion performance increased with the heating rates. The use of GG as an energy feedstock is recommended based on the findings from this work.

Teak wood is one of the prominently used raw material in the construction industry, thus contributing extremely to the biomass waste available in Nigeria. These wastes are usually used for energy generation that requires upgrade into better fuel before application. Hence, the present study evaluates the non-isothermal kinetic parameters for pyrolysis of teak wood using model-fitting techniques. Teak wood dust was subjected to proximate, ultimate and calorific value analyses based on different ASTM standards. The thermal degradation and decomposition behaviour of the teak wood dust was examined using a thermogravimetric analyzer. Pulverized teak (6.5 mg) was heated from 30 to 800 ºC at varying heating rates (5, 10 and 15 ºC) in an environment where 100 mL/min of nitrogen gas was charged in continuously to maintain an inert condition. Avrami-Erofeev, Ginstling-Broushtein (GB) and Mampel models were used to evaluate the kinetic parameters of the pyrolysis of teak wood dust. The teak wood dust contained 7.25 % moisture, 79.26 % volatile matter (VM), 1.74 % ash and 11.75 % fixed carbon. The calorific value of the wood dust was 18.72 MJ/kg. The results of the thermogravimetric analyses depicted that heating rate has no effect on weight loss during the reactive drying zone. However, as the thermal treatment progressed into the active pyrolysis and passive pyrolysis zones, the weight loss decreased with increase in heating rate.  The devolatilization parameters also increased with heating rates except for the maximum conversion. The results of the kinetic parameters evaluation revealed that the GB model was best fit to evaluate the kinetic parameters of teak in the active pyrolysis zone while GB and Mampel models were considered most appropriate for the evaluation of the kinetic parameters in the passive pyrolysis zone. Model-fitting method has the capacity to capture a wide range of fractional conversion at a glance. HIGHLIGHTS Arrhenius parameters in terms of activation energy and pre-exponential factor for the pyrolysis of teak wood while comparing 4 different model-fitting techniques were obtained The α-temperature plot for solid state reaction of teak wood dust was a bell-shape (sigmoidal model) The Avrami-Erofeev and SSS models were unable to capture the overlapping multiple reactions that took place simultaneously at the active pyrolysis zone Higher energy input is needed for devolatilization of teak wood dust to give 10 - 80 % conversion due to higher activation energy at the active pyrolysis zone Ginstling-Broushtein was found to be the best model for evaluating the kinetic parameters at the active pyrolysis zone as it had the highest R2 value GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT