The present study was focused on evaluating the bioenergy potential of waste biomass of desert plant Calotropis procera. The biomass was pyrolyzed at four heating rates including 10 °Cmin-1, 20 °Cmin-1, 40 °Cmin-1, and 80 °Cmin-1. The pyrolysis reaction kinetics and thermodynamics parameters were assessed using isoconversional models namely Kissenger-Akahira-Sunose, Flynn-Wall-Ozawa, and Starink. Major pyrolysis reaction occurred between 200 and 450 °C at the conversion points (α) ranging from 0.2 to 0.6 while their corresponding reaction parameters including activation energy, enthalpy change, Gibb's free energy and pre-exponential factors were ranged from 165 to 207 kJ mol-1, 169-200 kJ mol-1, 90-42 kJ mol-1, and 1018-1026 s-1, respectively. The narrow range of pre-exponential factors indicated a uniform pyrolysis, while lower differences between enthalpy change and activation energies indicated that reactions were thermodynamically favorable. The evolved gases were dominated by propanoic acid, 3-hydroxy-, hydrazide, hydrazinecarboxamide and carbohydrazide followed by amines/amides, alcohols, acids, aldehydes/ketones, and esters.
Keywords: Bioenergy; Calotropis procera; Pyrolysis; TG-FTIR-MS; Thermodynamics parameters.
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