Combustion and Pyrolysis Study of Pakistani Coal, Rice Husk, and Their Blends via TGA Analysis

Abstract

Pakistan has a key problem of power supply in urban as well as rural areas having very limited supply of electricity. Being an agricultural country, Pakistan produces a significant volume of agro-waste having little economic use at the moment. The increased consciousness in green house emission has motivated to develop new technologies to accommodate the detention and confiscation of CO2. Keeping in mind the scenario, the combustion and pyrolysis behavior of Pakistani lignite (PL), rice husk (RH) and their blends of PL50/RH50 wt.%, PL40/RH60 wt.% and PL30/RH70 wt.% were examined in oxy-fuel and nitrogen environments for their probable use as sustainable and alternative energy resource. Combustion profiles of rice husk and lignite blends lie between those of individual fuels. Thermal stability of the lignite was observed to be decreased as increase of rice husk and suggest favoring when more energy is needed in short interval of time. Energy potential of PL50/RH50 blend was better due to the presence of higher amount of carbon and calorific value, low amount of ash and sulfur contents. Activation energy found to be decreased with the increase of rice husk quantity in pyrolysis reaction and associated with carbon content of lignite. The reduction in activation energy indicated the decrease in the operational temperature and suggests that gasification process will start at lower temperature for blends of lignite and rice husk than individual lignite.