Investigation on thermochemical behavior of co-pyrolysis between oil-palm solid wastes and paper sludge

The pyrolysis characteristics of oil-palm solid wastes, paper sludge and their blends were studied via thermogravimetric analysis. Blends ranging from 10 wt.% to 90 wt.% on dosage ratio were prepared to investigate their co-pyrolysis behavior and kinetics. There was a synergistic interaction at low temperature during co-pyrolysis between oil-palm solid wastes and paper sludge. The synergistic interaction would improve thermochemical pyrolysis reactivity of the blends, which could be attributed to the hydrogenation role and the potential mineral catalytic effects on paper sludge pyrolysis. The value of average activation energy obtained by Starink and Friedmen methods did not gradually decline with the increasing proportion of oil-palm solid wastes in the blends. The lowest average activation energy was achieved when the percentage of oil-palm solid wastes was 70%, which was 152 kJ/mol by Starink and 149 kJ/mol by Friedmen, respectively.