Pyrolysis of coal, biomass and their blends: Performance assessment by thermogravimetric analysis

• Coal and biomass pyrolysis has been studied via thermogravimetric analysis (TGA).
• South African coal, Sardinian Sulcis coal and wood chips have been characterized.
• S. African coal thermal decomposition is very low, thus indicating a low reactivity.
• Coal and biomass do not show sensible synergic effects when they are co-pyrolyzed.
• Pyrolysis behavior through TGA allows to optimize the pilot-scale gasification.

With the aim to support the experimental tests in a gasification pilot plant, the thermal decomposition of coal, biomass and their mixtures has been carried out through a thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and a simplified kinetic analysis. The TGA of pure fuels indicates the low reactivity of South African coal and the relatively high reactivity of Sardinian Sulcis coal during pyrolysis. Among the tested fuels, biomass (stone pine wood chips) is the most reactive one. These results fully confirm those obtained during the experimental tests in the gasification pilot plant. As for the fuel blends, the analysis shows that the synergic effects between the considered coals and biomass are negligible when they are co-pyrolyzed. The results of the analysis confirm that TGA could be very useful to generally predict the gasification performance and to optimize the experimental campaigns in pilot-scale gasification plants.