Wet torrefaction of bamboo saw dust and its co-pyrolysis with plastic

In this study, the bamboo saw dust (BSD) was wet-torrefied (WT) to selectively remove hemicellulose in the form of pentoses (xylose + arabinose) with 85% yield and to produce hydrochar (with the high energy density of 24 MJ/kg, which is similar to that of lignite). Further, the pyrolysis and co-pyrolysis behavior of hydrochar, LLDPE, and their blends were analyzed by thermogravimetric analysis in the temperature range of 30-800 degrees C and under argon atmosphere. The blend with one part hydrochar and three parts LLDPE (TBP1:3) showed the highest positive synergism during co-pyrolysis at a 40 degrees C min 1 heating rate. The average apparent activation energies (as calculated using isoconversional methods) of co-pyrolysis of blended samples (TBP3:1, TBP1:1, and TBP1:3) were found to be 232, 261, 247 kJ mol(-1), respectively. The Criado's master plot showed the reaction mechanism of co-pyrolysis to be multistep. For example, the blend TBP1:3 followed the trend of two-dimensional Avrami-Erofeyev model (A2) at lower conversions, diffusion-reaction model (D2) at high conversions and end with a first-order reaction.