Fundamental Characteristics and Kinetic Analysis of Lignocellulosic Woody and Herbaceous Biomass Fuels

Abstract

Biomass fuels are increasingly being viewed as viable alternatives for energy production in biomass-fired power plants and coal-fired power plants, which aim to employ co-firing technologies to achieve CO2 emission reductions. In this study, wood pellets (woody biomass) and kenaf (herbaceous biomass) were fully characterized in terms of their elemental compositions, pyrolysis, and char oxidation kinetics. Kinetic parameters were obtained through the application of the multi-Gaussian distributed activation energy model (DAEM) and Kissinger equation. Analyses of the ash indicated that, unlike coal, the biomass fuel is mostly composed of metal oxide ash. The calorific values of wood pellets were slightly higher than those of kenaf. Detailed kinetic analyses are presented so that steps can be taken to combust the biomass fuels in power plants. The kinetic data suggested that the mechanism for the char oxidation of wood pellets may be more complex than that for kenaf. In summary, these torrefied and pyrolyzed materials were found to represent potentially useful biomass fuels.

Keywords

• biomass
• lignocellulosic
• woody
• herbaceous
• pyrolysis
• biomass char
• reactivity
• biomass characteristics