Modeling of the pyrolysis of biomass under parabolic and exponential temperature increases using the Distributed Activation Energy Model

A modification of the simplified Distributed Activation Energy Model is proposed to simulate the pyrolysis of biomass under parabolic and exponential temperature increases. The pyrolysis of pine wood, olive kernel, thistle flower and corncob was experimentally studied in a TGA Q500 thermogravimetric analyzer. The results of the measurements of nine different parabolic and, exponential temperature increases for each sample were employed to validate the models proposed. The deviation between the experimental TGA measurements and the estimation of the reacted fraction during the pyrolysis of the four samples under parabolic and exponential temperature increases was lower than 5 degrees C for all the cases studied. The models derived in this work to describe the pyrolysis of biomass with parabolic and exponential temperature increases were found to be in good agreement with the experiments conducted in a thermogravimetric analyzer.The authors express their gratitude to the BIOLAB experimental facility and to the "Programa de movilidad de investigadores en centros de investigación extranjeros (Modalidad A)" from the Carlos III University of Madrid (Spain) for the financial support conceded to Antonio Soria for a research stay at the German Aerospace Center DLR (Stuttgart, Germany) during the summer of 2014. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by Fundación Iberdrola under the "VI Programa de Ayudas a la Investigación en Energía y Medioambiente". Funding by the combustion and gas turbine technology program (EVG), of Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V. (DLR), the German Aerospace Center, is gratefully acknowledged by Elke Goos