Kinetic studies on catalytic combustion of rice and wheat straw under air- and oxygen-enriched atmospheres, by using thermogravimetric analysis

By thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and kinetic study, the influences of different catalysts on the ignition and combustion of rice and wheat straw in air- and oxygen-enriched atmospheres have been investigated in this paper. According to the index of ignition and burn off, the action of these catalysts on rice and wheat straw ignition and combustion in air- and oxygen-enriched atmosphere is effective except for the oxygen-enriched catalytic combustion of rice straw fixed carbon. According to the activation energy of combustion, the catalytic importance of metal oxides for the first combustion process is remarkable; there is no obvious as important decrease for the second combustion of rice and wheat straw except for CuO and Cao catalytic rice combustion under oxygen-enriched atmosphere. Compared with air atmosphere, the activation energy of rice and wheat straw catalyst oxygen-enriched combustion increases usually at the first process except for CuO catalytic rice combustion, but it decreases at the second process except for MgO catalytic rice combustion, and CaO and CuO catalytic wheat combustions. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.