Kinetic Study of Corn and Sugarcane Waste Oxidative Pyrolysis

Abstract

The behavior of the kinetics and pyrolysis of the corn and sugarcane waste (cob corn, husk corn, and bagasse) produced in Colombia have been evaluated in a thermobalance as a step toward their valorization, in order to recover this type of waste. For this, a kinetic model has been developed consisting of a multicomponent mechanism that seeks to describe the formation of volatile materials. This model evaluates the decomposition of hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin from three parallel and independent reactions network. It also involves the production of other products such as fixed coal and ashes. The evaluation of the model from the kinetic parameters and the thermogravimetric curves were compared with other types of waste, in the same way the chemical characteristics of the studied waste were determined. Although the wastes of this study are completely different, it was found that the degradation behavior of the residues of this study are very similar to other lignocellulosic materials, which demonstrates again that the pyrolysis valorization is possible.