Energy potential of plant and animal biomass using in relation to its thermal processing

Relevance. The need for effective utilization of biomass waste generated in significant quantities. Pyrolysis, accompanied by exothermic reactions, is a promising way of biomass processing. Aim. Assessment of the possibility of covering the thermal costs of plant and animal biomass pyrolysis due to heat release during decomposition. Methods. Proximate and ultimate analysis of biomass are determined according to certified methods. Thermal analysis of the studied raw materials was carried out on a Netzsch STA 449 F5 Jupiter synchronous thermal analyzer with an integrated gas analyzer QMS 403 Aeolos; quantitative yield of pyrolysis products was determined according to GOST 3168-93, gas composition was established using the gas analyzer TEST-1 (БОНЭР, Russia). Results and conclusions. According to the results of thermal analysis, it was found that pyrolysis of plant (pine nut shells) and animal (cattle manure) biomass is accompanied by exothermic reactions associated with the organic part decomposition in the temperature range 240–700°C. The value of heat release of exothermic reactions during pine nut shell destruction is 1.39 MJ/kg, a similar value during manure decomposition is 0.31 MJ/kg. This amount of heat allows you to fully cover the thermal costs of pine nut shell pyrolytic processing, the share of covering the thermal costs of manure pyrolysis is ∼30%. An additional source of heat is pyrolysis gaseous products with energy potential equal to 3.28 and 1.58 MJ of thermal energy per 1 kg of processed pine nut shells and manure, respectively.