Investigation of the slow pyrolysis kinetics of oil palm solid waste by the distributed activation energy model

Oil palm solid waste has promising potential as future feedstock for bioenergy generation due to its abundant availability as an impact of the increasing world's palm oil production. In this study, non-isothermal thermogravimetry measurements under an inert atmosphere of nitrogen were conducted at heating rates of 5, 10, 15 and 20°C/min, on oil palm solid waste, including its components: empty fruit bunch (EFB), fibre, and shell. The distributed activation energy model (DAEM) was used to investigate the pyrolysis kinetic parameters, comprising activation energy and frequency factor. The activation energy and frequency factor values for EFB, fibre, and shell are from 107.17 to 227.28 kJ/mol and from 1.79E+13 to 9.87E+20 s−1; from 50.75 to 213.22 kJ/mol and from 8.40E+05 to 4.25E+15 s−1, and from 59.36 to 170.30 kJ/mol and from 1.54E+07 to 1.11E+14 s−1, respectively. It was found that the activation energy values of all components vary with the progress on conversion, and they show different trends. The DAEM can be used to determine the pyrolysis kinetic parameters and provides reasonable fit to the experimental data. © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.