Corn stover thermal decomposition in pyrolytic and oxidant atmosphere

• The decomposition of corn stover is studied in a thermobalance.
• A kinetic model is proposed for the overall decomposition at different heating rates.
• Comparison of pyrolysis and combustion is provided.
• GC analysis of the gas evolved is given at different heating rates.

The pyrolysis and combustion of corn stover were studied by dynamic thermogravimetry and derivate thermogravimetry (TG–DTG) at heating rates of 5, 10, 20 and 50 K min−1 at atmospheric pressure. For the simulation of pyrolysis and combustion processes a kinetic model based on the distribution of activation energies was used, with three pools of reactants (three pseudocomponents) because of the complexity of the biomass samples of agricultural origin. The experimental thermogravimetric data of pyrolysis and combustion processes were simultaneously fitted to determine a single set of kinetic parameters able to describe both processes at the different heating rates. The model proposed achieves a good correlation between the experimental and calculated curves, with an error of less than 4% for fitting four heating rates simultaneously. The experimental results and kinetic parameters may provide useful data for the design of thermo decomposition processing system using corn stover as feedstock. On the other hand, analysis of the main compounds in the evolved gas is given by means of a microchromatograph.