Study of the thermal decomposition of mixtures sugarcane bagasse/titanium dioxide

This study addresses the formulation of composites based on carbonaceous materials derived from biomass and metallic oxides, with the aim of obtaining solids with properties suitable for applications in different sectors, such as heterogeneous photocatalysis. In this context, the thermal decomposition study of titanium dioxide/sugarcane bagasse mixtures in the proportions 1:1 and 1:2 (TiSC 1:1 and TiSC 1:2) was carried out at three different temperatures: 473, 623, and 723 K, with a heating ramp of 10 K min −1 under nitrogen flow of 80 mL min −1 for 2 h to obtain composites TiSC1:1 473, TiSC1:1 623, TiSC1:1 723, TiSC1:2 473, TiSC1:2 623, and TiSC1:2 723. The obtained solids were characterized by thermal analysis (TG/DTG and DTA), infrared spectroscopy with Fourier transform, X-ray diffraction, and specific surface area measurements. The kinetics of the decomposition of the solids at heating rates of 5, 10, 15, and 20 K min −1 were carried out using the models of Ozawa and Kissinger. The activation energy values of the precursor mixtures decreased with an increase in the proportion of titanium dioxide in the mixture. The characterization of the composites showed that the variation in the proportion of the precursors did not alter the phases of titanium dioxide that remained as anatase and rutile. In contrast, the combination of a higher heat treatment temperature and a higher proportion of biomass leads to an increase in the specific surface area. Graphical abstract