Thermogravimetric analysis of the co-combustion of eucalyptus residues and paper mill sludge

The thermal behavior of eucalyptus residues (ER), paper mill sludge (PMS) and their blends during combustion processes was investigated in this study. Blending ranging from 10 wt% to 90 wt% on dosage ratio were prepared to study their co-combustion behaviors and kinetics. The experiments were conducted in a differential thermogravimetric analyzer at different heating rates (10, 20 and 40 °C/min), at temperature ranging from 120 °C to 950 °C and in 80% nitrogen/20% oxygen atmosphere. The comprehensive characteristic index decreased with the increase of the PMS ratio. Adding ER to PMS may improve the combustion characteristics of PMS. The value of average activation energy obtained by Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose (KAS) and Starink methods did not gradually decline with the increasing proportion of PMS in the blends. The average activation energy reached the minimum number when the percentage of PMS was 10%, which was 159.30 kJ/mol by KAS and 160.36 kJ/mol by Starink, respectively.