Kinetics modeling of dynamic pyrolysis of bagasse fibers

The thermal decomposition mechanism of raw and treated bagasse fibers was modeled with three parallel independent first-order reactions. The kinetic parameters and pseudo components which best fit the experimental dynamic pyrolysis rate of bagasse was determined by means of the Matlab program using the least-square method. The calculated rate of thermal decomposition for each bagasse sample was consistent with experimental pyrolysis rate very well. A method was adopted to calculate the contents of cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin for bagasse fiber based on the dynamic pyrolysis model. The calculated contents of the untreated bagasse fiber agreed very well with some reported values from the literature. The effect of treatment conditions on the bagasse fiber compositions was also studied. From the three-dimensional plot for each of the three components, it could be observed that bagasse fibers treated under the intermediate alkaline condition could achieve the higher content of cellulose.