Effects of Algal Biomass Blending on Coal Decomposition Behaviour and Kinetics at Intermediate Pyrolysis Regimes

Co-pyrolysis of coal with biomass is becoming a popular method of reducing the net carbon dioxide emissions associated with the process. In present work, the pyrolysis of coal and algae was studied using thermogravimetric methods and the kinetics were analyzed using the Coats-Redfern integral method. The kinetics were evaluated for 1st and 2nd order reaction models. The effect brought by blending coal with algae on kinetics was studied via the analysis of pyrolysis of different coal-algae blends. The results revealed that the pyrolysis of coal and algae follows 2nd and 1st order kinetics with activation energy evaluated in the range 213.4-241.8 and 108.9-122.8 kJ/mol, respectively. It was observed that for coal-algae blending of 20-40% algae, intermediate pyrolysis, typical heating rates of 50-200 ºC/min was characterized by two distinct stages (ignoring the drying stage) that correspond to the individual decomposition of algae and coal. However, there was an evidence of coal-algae interactions during co-pyrolysis, which made the kinetics of the two distinct stages not to correspond to the kinetics of the individual materials.