Investigation of Pyrolysis Behavior of Sewage Sludge by Thermogravimetric Analysis Coupled with Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometry Using Different Heating Rates

Norbert Miskolczi and Szabina Tomasek
Additional contact information
Norbert Miskolczi: Faculty of Engineering, Research Centre of Biochemical, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, MOL Department of Hydrocarbon and Coal Processing, University of Pannonia, Egyetem u. 10, H-8200 Veszprém, Hungary
Szabina Tomasek: Faculty of Engineering, Research Centre of Biochemical, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, MOL Department of Hydrocarbon and Coal Processing, University of Pannonia, Egyetem u. 10, H-8200 Veszprém, Hungary

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 14, 1-18

Abstract: In this study, pyrolysis of municipal sewage sludge samples from different sources including cattle and chicken manure as well as brook mud, was investigated using a thermogravimetric analysis coupled with a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (TG-FTIR) at different heating rates (25, 50 and 100 °C/min). In order to determine the kinetic parameters, Arrhenius, model-free Kissinger–Akira–Sunose (KAS), as well as Friedman and Flynn–Wall–Ozawa (FWO) methods were compared. The thermogravimetric results revealed that pyrolysis involved different stages, and that the main decomposition reactions took place in the range of 200–600 °C. In this range, decomposition of biodegradable components (e.g., lipids and polysaccharides), proteins and carbohydrates occurred; meanwhile, there were samples (e.g., cattle manure, brook mud) in which the decomposition step could be observed even at temperatures above 700 °C. According to the Arrhenius method, the activation energies of the first decomposition stage were between 25.6 and 85.4 kJ/mol, while the activation energies of the second and third stages were in the ranges of 11.4–36.3 kJ/mol and 20.2–135 kJ/mol, respectively. The activation energies were also calculated by the KAS, Friedman and FWO methods, which were in the range of 100–300 kJ/mol for municipal sewage sludge or distillery sludge, and ranged between 9.6 and 240 kJ/mol for cattle manure, chicken manure and brook mud samples.

Keywords: sewage sludge; pyrolysis; TG-FTIR; kinetic parameters (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/14/5116/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/14/5116/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:14:p:5116-:d:862077

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().