Insight of biopolymeric degradation and kinetic triplets of corn cob and its biochar using thermogravimetric analysis

Abstract

This article highlighted the thermal degradation behaviour and kinetic estimation of the corn cob biomass and its biochar. To achieve that, the corn cobs were pyrolyzed at 500 °C in a reactor under a controlled environment. The recovered biochar was exposed to thermogravimetric analysis at heating rates (10, 20, 30 and 40 °C/min) to diagnose the thermochemical changes of bio-compositions and estimation of kinetic triplets. The FWO and KAS methods were used to determine the activation energy for corn cob and biochar. The average activation energy of the biochar was reduced by 66-73 % over the raw corn cob which reflected the weakening of the biopolymeric bonds in biochar due to pyrolytic effect. The thermodynamic functions ΔG, ΔH and ΔS drive beneficial sign for thermally balanced corn cob biochar. The findings of presented work would drive for the development of engineered pyrolysis reactors for biochar generation and strengthening academic research.