Investigation of biomass mixture devolatilization process

In this paper, pyrolysis of selected biomass types and their mixtures was investigated using thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA). The purpose of the work was to study interactions between components of biomass mixtures and influence of ash composition on pyrolysis up to 600°C, using two heating rates 1 K/min and 10 K/min. Five different biomass samples were taken into consideration: oak, pine, wheat straw, rape straw and energy crop (willow). It was found, that during slow pyrolysis (1 K/min) the volatiles yield increased and interactions were more noticeable. Results showed that increasing content of some components, like wheat straw, willow, in some biomass mixtures may favor occurrence of interactions. It was also found, that increasing heating rate accelerates devolatilization process and shifts extreme of DTG to higher temperature. Authors attempted to present volatiles yield, in a given temperature range, as a linear function of elemental composition of biomass.