Thermal degradation behavior and kinetics of two agricultural (soy
and oat hulls) and two forestry biomass (willow and spruce) residues
were investigated using a unique combination of model-fitting and
model-free methods. Experiments were carried out in an inert atmosphere
at different heating rates. Both single step and multistep models
were explored in deriving activation energies, frequency factors,
and mechanisms of all four biomass residues. For the single step models,
activation energy values ranged from 107.2 kJ/mol for willow and 139.7
kJ/mol for soy hull, and the frequency factors for both materials
were 1.1 × 10
9
and 2.66 × 10
12
s
–1
, respectively. The multistep models gave further
insight into the different mechanisms across the full degradation
spectrum. There was an observed difference between the number of distinct
steps/mechanisms for the agriculture-based versus wood-based biomass
materials, with pyrolysis occurring in three distinct steps for the
agricultural biomass residues while the woody residues degraded in
two steps. The difference in the number of distinct steps can be attributed
to the composition and distribution of components of the biomass,
which would differ based on the nature and source of the biomass.
The kinetics of the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) reaction was evaluated through detailed experimentation with a KMo bimetallic promoted Fe catalyst supported on carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The kinetic tests were conducted in a fixed-bed reactor under operating conditions of P = 6.9-41.3 bar, T = 543-563 K, H 2 /CO = 1, gas hourly specific velocity (GHSV) = 2000 h À1 . This study
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