Kinetics of Pyrolysis of Date Kernels

The kinetics of pyrolysis of ground date kernels was investigated using thermogravimetric analysis in order to provide the necessary information for proper biochar formation and bioreactor design. Pyrolysis was carried out at heating rates of 5, 10, 15 and 20oC.min-1 in a flow of nitrogen. One main DTG peak was obtained that corresponded to formation of bio-char. A second diffuse peak corresponds to constant rate cracking of the char formed and complete elimination of carbon leaving an ash residue. The composition of biochar was determined using EDX. Four different methods were used to follow up the kinetics of the three steps, namely, the Kissinger, the Flynn-Wall-Ozawa, the Coats-Redfern methods and multi-regression analysis. The activation energy of the main decomposition step was determined and the values obtained using different kinetic models compared. The decomposition step simply followed first order kinetics.