Determination of Drying Kinetics for Biomass by Thermogravimetric Analysis under Nonisothermal Condition

Abstract

The nonisothermal drying kinetics of wheat straw and corn stalk has been studied by thermogravimetry. The experimental data have been obtained in order to fit to semitheoretical models widely used to describe drying behavior of agricultural products. Nonisothermal drying models—Newton, Henderson and Pabis, logarithmic, and Page—were evaluated based on the coefficient of determination (R ²), reduced chi-square (χ ²), and root means square error (RMSE). Page's model has been found to be the best for describing the nonisothermal drying characteristics of wheat straw and corn stalk. The activation energy values of wheat straw and corn stalk are determined to be 14.144 and 6.113 kJ mol⁻¹, respectively.

Keywords:

• Agricultural residues
• Drying kinetics
• Drying model
• Nonisothermal thermogravimetric analysis

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Financial support from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China (PRP project no. T15013021) is greatly acknowledged.

Notes

where t is the time, a, c, n are drying constants in models, and k is the drying rate constant.