Carbon Dioxide Gasification Kinetics of Char from Rapeseed Oil Press Cake

Rapeseed oil press cake (RPC) is an abundantly available and renewable agricultural waste material for the production of fuels or chemicals. In this study, the rates of carbon dioxide gasification of rapeseed oil press cake char were measured by thermogravimetric analysis measurements performed at various temperatures (800-900 degrees C) and CO2 mole fractions (0.10-1.00). The char was obtained by slow pyrolysis, where the dried RPC was decomposed at a temperature range of 1000 degrees C to obtain char free of impurities that can affect the measurements. The random pore model appeared to be suitable for describing the effect of conversion on the reaction rate. The temperature, CO2, and concentration dependence of the reaction rate were given by the Arrhenius equation and a power law (nth order) correlation. The kinetic parameters based on the experimental data were determined by a two-step estimation procedure. For the experimental conditions employed in this study, the parameters E and n were 222.1 kJ/mol and 0.57, respectively.