Torrefaction Thermogravimetric Analysis and Kinetics of Sorghum Distilled Residue for Sustainable Fuel Production

Shih-Wei Yen, Wei-Hsin Chen, Jo-Shu Chang, Chun-Fong Eng, Salman Raza Naqvi and Pau Loke Show
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Shih-Wei Yen: Department of Chemical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan
Wei-Hsin Chen: Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan
Jo-Shu Chang: Department of Chemical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan
Chun-Fong Eng: Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan
Salman Raza Naqvi: School of Chemical and Materials Engineering (SCME), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), H-12, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
Pau Loke Show: Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Semenyih 43500, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 8, 1-15

Abstract: This study investigated the kinetics of isothermal torrefaction of sorghum distilled residue (SDR), the main byproduct of the sorghum liquor-making process. The samples chosen were torrefied isothermally at five different temperatures under a nitrogen atmosphere in a thermogravimetric analyzer. Afterward, two different kinetic methods, the traditional model-free approach, and a two-step parallel reaction (TPR) kinetic model, were used to obtain the torrefaction kinetics of SDR. With the acquired 92–97% fit quality, which is the degree of similarity between calculated and real torrefaction curves, the traditional method approached using the Arrhenius equation showed a poor ability on kinetics prediction, whereas the TPR kinetic model optimized by the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm showed that all the fit qualities are as high as 99%. The results suggest that PSO can simulate the actual torrefaction kinetics more accurately than the traditional kinetics approach. Moreover, the PSO method can be further employed for simulating the weight changes of reaction intermediates throughout the process. This computational method could be used as a powerful tool for industrial design and optimization in the biochar manufacturing process.

Keywords: sorghum distilled residue; thermogravimetric analysis; torrefaction kinetics; biomass and bioenergy; particle swarm optimization (PSO); biochar (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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