Kinetics of co-pyrolysis of sawdust, coal and tar.

Two coals, sawdust and coal tar were selected to prepare briquettes. Thermogravimetric analyses at three heating rates (i.e. 10, 20 and 30°C/min) and up to 1000°C were carried out with the briquette components. Four blends were prepared and the experimental decomposition profiles were compared with the calculated data taking into account the amount of each component in the blend. No interaction was found when comparing the experimental and calculated decomposition profiles of the blends. Isoconversional models OFW (Ozawa-Flynn-Wall) and KAS (Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose) were used to obtain the activation energies of the blend components. The activation energies obtained were introduced in the Coats-Redfern (CR) model to derive the pre-exponential factors. The thermal decomposition profiles calculated using the kinetic parameters were in good agreement with the experimental results in the case of the briquette components, but worse results were obtained in the case of the blends due to their greater complexity.