STUDY ON PYROLYSIS OF SAWDUST UNDER DIFFERENT HEATING RATES BY USING TG-FTIR ANALYSIS

Pyrolysis of certain sawdust was studied using thermogravimetric analyzer coupled with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (TG-FTIR). Different heating rates of 20 degrees C.min(-1), 40 degrees C.min(-1) and 80 degrees C.min(-1) were applied with final temperature of 950 degrees C. A total loss weight of 78 %, 79 % and 83 % was observed respectively, and the temperature trend of evolving gaseous products, such as CH4, H2O, CO and CO2 was investigated. The pyrolysis of 20 C.min(-1) turned out to be the most concentrative, followed by 40 degrees C.min(-1) and 80 degrees C.min(-1). There are several differences in yield among different heating rates. However, the study in this paper is essential for sawdust pyrolysis model and the TG-FTIR approach is potential to provide valuable inputs for predictive modeling of sawdust pyrolysis. More studies are needed to get the kinetic parameters and pyrolysis models that can predict yields and evolution patterns of selected volatile products for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) applications.