Thermal decomposition behavior of water hyacinth ( eichhornia crassipes ) under an inert atmosphere

Thermogravimetric analysis experiment to understand thermal decomposition behavior of water hyacinth during the pyrolysis has been performed. Water hyacinth was taken randomly from 2 places, i.e., Selorejo and Sengguruh Dam, district of Malang, Indonesia. Those raw materials were thoroughly cleaned by using the water, then cut and dried in an oven with a temperature range of 80-90 °C for 6 hours. Subsequently, the dried samples were crushed and then filtered to a mesh size of 60. Thermal behavior of the sample was observed through the instrumentality of thermal analyzer at a constant heating rate of 10 °C/min with a nitrogen flow rate of 100 ml/min and a temperature range of 25-1000 °C. The kinetics of active pyrolysis zone were evaluated by Coats-Redfern integral method. The thermogravimetric test results show that the water hyacinth biomass decomposed into four stages during the pyrolysis process. The kinetic parameters in term of activation energy ( E ), logarithmic frequency factor (log A ) and reaction order ( n ) were 60.74 kJ/mol, 4.77/min and 1.9, respectively.