Pyrolysis kinetics and thermodynamic behavior of pseudo components of raw and torrefied maple wood

ABSTRACT

In this work, pyrolysis kinetics and thermodynamic behavior of pseudo components (PCs) of raw and torrefied maple wood (MW) were studied. The MW torrefaction experiments were conducted at 240°C and the pyrolysis process was performed under three distinct heating rates. Through the deconvolution procedure, three PCs, i.e. pseudo-hemicellulose (PC-HC), pseudo-cellulose (PC-CL), and pseudo-lignin (PC-LG), were identified. The activation energy (E_α) of PCs were evaluated using the Starink method, and the pyrolysis reaction mechanisms were analyzed using the Criado’s master plot method. Furthermore, three thermodynamic parameters were also calculated and discussed. Results showed that after torrefaction, the PC-HC content dropped from 47.30% to 7.90%, while the PC-CL and PC-LG contents increased from 33.67% to 55.72% and from 19.03% to 36.38%, respectively. The average E_α of raw MW PC-HC, PC-CL and PC-LG were 114.56, 117.12 and 116.02 kJ/mol, respectively, whereas they were 92.86, 103.82 and 159.26 kJ/mol for torrefied PCs, respectively. The master plot results suggested that the pyrolysis of MW PCs involved different order-based models. In addition, the thermodynamic analysis revealed that the torrefied PC-HC required slightly less heat energy during pyrolysis. All these observations can be conducive to better understand the pyrolysis mechanisms of raw and torrefied MW PCs.

Graphical abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Biomass
• pyrolysis
• torrefaction
• kinetic analysis
• pseudo components
• deconvolution

Acknowledgements

This work is financially supported by the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (project number LXR22A020001), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (project numbers 12172328), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (project number 2021FZZX001-11).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the observations of this work would be made available by the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province [LXR22A020001]; National Natural Science Foundation of China [12172328]; Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [2021FZZX001-11].

Notes on contributors

Yogesh Patil

Yogesh Patil is PhD student in the Department of Engineering Mechanics, Zhejiang University, China. His research area focuses on the thermochemical conversion of raw and torrefied biomass.

Xiaoke Ku

Xiaoke Ku is an Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering Mechanics, Zhejiang University, China. He obtained his PhD degree in Fluid Mechanics in 2009 from Zhejiang University. After graduation, he successively worked in University of Twente (Netherlands), Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands), and Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway). He joined in Zhejiang University in 2015. His research area focuses on the numerical simulation and experimental study of reactive multiphase flows.