Pyrolysis characteristics of sawdust and rice husk

Pyrolysis characteristics of sawdust and rice husk as biomass resources in a thermogravimetric analysis were determined. Experiments were carried out with a linear heating rate under inert atmosphere of N₂ gas. Pyrolysis of the biomass can be classified as a lower temperature reaction zone where the major component of holocellulose is thermally decomposed and a high temperature reaction zone where lignin is thermally decomposed. The obtained data was analyzed by the two-step consecutive reaction model. Activation energies of sawdust and rice husk are found to be respectively 82.5 kJ/mol and 85.1 kJ/mol in the low temperature zone according to the first order reaction model and 19.7 kJ/mol, 22.0 kJ/mol in the high temperature zone according to the three-way transport model. The reaction rate constant with variation of heating rate can be well predicted by the kinetic compensation relation of Gaur-Reed.