Characterization, thermal and kinetic analysis of Pinusroxburghii

Uttarakhand has the maximum potential of pine of about 20 lakh tonnes/year including reserved forests and van panchayat which makes pine needle an abundant resource. The analysis of the pine needles reveals it a potential biomass feedstock for gasification to produce electricity. This manuscript deals with the combustion study of Pine needles (Pinusroxburghii) biomass using a thermogravimetric analyzer to investigate the thermal degradation behavior and kinetic parameters. The pine needles were heated in the presence of air at four different heating rates 5, 10, 25 and 50 °C/min, and the degradation phenomenon was studied. From the proximate and ultimate analysis of pine needles, it was observed that the biomass could be a potential feedstock for gasification. The TG-DTG curves revealed that the main decomposition was between 190 and 450 °C with the release of 80–84% volatiles. It was observed that as the heating rate increases, the maximum decomposition temperature also increases and the peak shifts to the right. The obtained thermal data were used to calculate the kinetic parameters using Kissinger–Akharia–Sunose, Ozawa-Flynn-Wall, Friedman and Kissinger. The average values obtained from the above methods are 190.74, 190.75, 199.48 and 172 kJ/mol and 2.749 × 1022, 5.13 × 1022, 4.21 × 1021 and 4.14 × 106/min, respectively. The model fitting method and Coats–Redfern method were used to determine the kinetic triplet (A, E and n). The above model-free methods and model fitting methods predicts the progress of gasification at different positions along the reactor. Considering proximate analysis and heating value, pine needles could be considered as a potential feedstock for energy production through gasification process. The estimated results help as a source to understand the thermal degradation of biomass during the gasification process and be used to design the systems.