Paper Title
Evaluation of Sugarcane Bagasse as a Sustainable Energy Resource Using Thermo-Kinetic Approach
Abstract
Biomass is one of the renewable and sustainable energy sources that do not lead greenhouse gas emissions. Efficient use of biomass energy will help to solve problems resulting from fossil fuels over high cost. However, the main concern relevant to use of this energy is mainly related to low calorific value of biomass. Therefore, calorific value is the key parameter to evaluate the fuel quality of a special biomass material in energetic applications. Biomass pyrolysis is considered as a promising technology of producing valuable biochemical. Also, representative chemicals can be obtained from the pyrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass. In present work, pyrolytic decomposition of industrial residue (sugarcane bagasse, SB) has been studied to examine the suitability of the residue as bio-fuel resource. The processed bagasse was characterized by proximate analysis (moisture, volatile matter, fixed carbon, and ash content) and ultimate analysis (C/H/N/S/O). Further, thermogravimetry analysis of sugarcane baggage was done at heating rate of 5oC/min. The results demonstrated that the pyrolysis is divided into three stages: Slow pyrolysis (dehydration process), Active pyrolysis (devolatilization process) and Fast pyrolysis (residue decomposition). The CHNS analysis of the bagasse gave an empirical formula of CH2.759O1.247N0.014. Kinetics and thermodynamic properties of SB biomass was evaluated for mono heating rate. The average Gibbs free energy was observed of 83.38 KJ. It is also observed that sugarcane baggage has highest volatile matter (83.5%) and lowest ash content (3.9%) as well as low percentages of N, S so that sugarcane baggage can be suitably used as an efficient source for the production of bio-fuel.
Keywords - Sugarcane Bagasse, Pyrolysis, Thermogravimetry, Bio-Fuel.