Catalytic pyrolysis of the Empty Fruit Bunches of the Oil Palm and the Sugarcane Bagasse: Non-Isothermal Thermogravimetric Kinetic Analysis

Abstract

The kinetics of the catalytic pyrolysis of the empty fruit bunches of the oil palm (EFB) and the sugarcane bagasse (SCB) were investigated, using the non-isothermal thermogravimetric analysis. Two isoconversional methods were applied, the Friedman differential method and the Ozawa-Flynn-Wall integral method. Five catalysts were evaluated: Equilibrium catalyst of FCC (Z2), ZSM-5 in pellet (Z3), zeolite ZSM-5 in spherical pellet (Z4), Zeolite Y powder (Z5) and zeolite ZSM-5 powder (Z6). The activation energy in the pyrolysis of the biomass with and without catalyst was calculated. Biomass with a particle size between 177 to 250 µm was mixed with an equal amount of catalyst (particle size less than 250 µm). In the thermogravimetric analyzer, it was heated from 30 °C to 900 °C under non-isothermal conditions at four heating rates 5, 10, 15 and 20 °C/min respectively, using nitrogen at 60 cm3/min as inertizing gas. Regarding the SCB, it was obtained that the catalyst Z2 had the lowest activation energy of 123.26 kJ/mol (OFW) and 123.91 kJ/mol (Friedman) and the BCA without catalyst 139.57 kJ/ mol (OFW) and 147.88 kJ/mol (Friedman) which indicates that it is the most useful for catalytic pyrolysis of SCB. In the pyrolysis of the EFB, activation energy values of 158.19 kJ / mol (OFW) and 146.56 kJ / mol (Friedman) were obtained without catalyst and that catalyst Z2 had the lowest values of activation energy, 114.48 kJ/mol (OFW) and 102.55 kJ/mol (Friedman), which indicates that it is suitable for catalytic pyrolysis of EFB. The catalyst with the highest activation energy was Z5 for both biomass and both methods (OFW and Friedman). For the SCB, values of 168.47 kJ/mol (OFW) and 168.42 kJ/mol (Friedman) were obtained and for EFB 163.77 kJ / mol (OFW) and 189.27 kJ/mol (Friedman), this indicates that it is not suitable for catalytic pyrolysis of SCB and EFB.