A comprehensive review of thermogravimetric analysis in lignocellulosic and algal biomass gasification

Global concern about energy security, climate change, and increasing wastes have propelled the utilization of waste-to-energy technologies. Gasification is a robust thermochemical process that can handle a diverse range of biomass feedstocks and residues with various physicochemical properties while producing several value-added bioproducts and bioenergy. Meanwhile, the use of thermogravimetric analysis to determine the sample mass loss rate under a high-temperature gasification environment is a promising way to understand the chemical reactions, reactivities, and kinetic parameters of the thermochemical processes. This review focuses on the benefits of utilizing thermogravimetry for the biomass gasification process, with particular attention paid to the determination of kinetic parameters such as the pre-exponential coefficient and activation energies, resulting from model-fitting and model-free approaches. Relevant gasification parameters such as onset temperatures, residence times, and other important findings are also reported. Future trends are opined to be leaned towards the more extensive blending of biomass feedstocks with either coal, wastes, or other types of biomass, and applying artificial intelligence to improve data processing, prediction, and optimization of gasifier designs. This study also underlines integration with other modern analytical equipment to better characterize product evolution.