Bioenergy potential of sea buckthorn branches: A study on the multicomponent kinetics and thermodynamics of its pyrolysis

This study investigated the multicomponent pyrolysis kinetics and thermodynamics of sea buckthorn branch (SBB) biomass to assess its bioenergy potential. Thermogravimetric analysis coupled with Fraser-Suzuki deconvolution identified three pseudo-components (PS-HC, PS-CL, and PS-LG) with peak temperatures of 283–305 °C, 344–366 °C, and 400–422 °C, respectively. Py-GC/MS analysis showed that C₁₆-C₂₈ alkanes and acid were the dominant products, consistent with the significant C-H and C=O group vibrations in the FTIR analysis. Activation energies for each pseudo-component from four isoconversional methods was comparable, showing an increasing order of PS-HC (157.70 kJ/mol) < PS-CL (182.53 kJ/mol) < PS-LG (228.87 kJ/mol). The master-plots method indicated that the reaction mechanisms followed 3rd, 1st and 4th order models, respectively. Positive values for ΔH (152.59, 177.17, and 224.43 kJ/mol) and ΔG (157.47, 176.99, and 190.47 kJ/mol) indicated higher energy barriers, especially for PS-LG, and lower spontaneity of the conversion process. These results highlighted the energy potential of SBB as a feedstock for bioenergy production and provided valuable insights into reactor design and process optimization for large-scale application.