ABSTRACT
Co-pyrolysis of food waste with coconut fiber to produce hydrogen is considered an effective strategy for clean waste disposal and high value-added product synthesis. This study investigated the co-pyrolysis mechanism and hydrogen yields of food waste and coconut fiber at different blending ratios by thermogravimetric analysis and regression optimization. A heating rate of 10 ℃/min ranging from 30 ℃ to 900 ℃ coupled with the Svante August Arrhenius kinetic equations were utilized to derive the activation energies of the samples. Thermogravimetric analysis presented positive synergistic effects between coconut fiber and food waste to accelerate weight loss rate, and the main pyrolysis peak (200 ~ 450 ℃) moved to low temperature areas as the coconut fiber proportion increased. Additionally, kinetics showed that the lowest activation energy was 29.28 kJ at 1:3 blending ratio of coconut fiber to food waste. Based on this, response surface methodology (RSM) by Design-Expert.V8.0.6 ((Box-Behnken Design) (BBD)) was applied to optimize the microwave co-pyrolysis parameters (1600 W microwave power, 5 mm feedstock size, and 74% food waste proportion), thus the predicted maximum hydrogen yield was 46.20 vol.%. This study contributes to ameliorating the potential for solid waste microwave co-pyrolysis for value-added products production, therefore providing a reference for the further development of clean disposal technology and waste resource utilization.
GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
Abbreviations
FW | = | Food waste |
CF | = | Coconut fiber |
TGA | = | Thermogravimetric analysis |
DTG | = | Differential Thermogravimetry analysis |
E/(kJ·mol−1) | = | Activation energy |
k0 | = | Pre-exponential factor |
R2 | = | Correlation coefficient |
Acknowledgments
This research was conducted at the College of Engineering, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the National Key R&D Program of China [grant number 2019YFC1906103].
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
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Notes on contributors
Jufei Wang
Jufei Wang is a PhD student, mainly engaged in biomass conversion research.
Chao Li
Chao Li is a PhD student, mainly engaged in biomass conversion research.
Samuel Mbugua Nyambura
Samuel Mbugua Nyambura is a PhD student, mainly engaged in biomass conversion research.
Jialiang Xu
Jialiang Xu is a post-graduate student, mainly engaged in biomass conversion research.
Hua Li
Hua Li is a professor, doctoral supervisor, mainly engaged in precision planting and harvesting equipment and biomass conversion technology equipment research.
Chunlei Geng
Chunlei Geng is a PhD student, mainly engaged in biomass conversion research.
Xuhui Li
Xuhui Li is a university lecturer, mainly engaged in biomass conversion technology equipment research.
Xuebin Feng
Xuebin Feng is a associate professor, mainly engaged in precision planting and harvesting equipment and biomass conversion technology equipment research.
Xueru Zhu
Xueru Zhu is a post-graduate student, mainly engaged in intelligent research and biomass conversion research.