Thermogravimetric and kinetic studies of metal (Ru/Fe) impregnated banana pseudo-stem (Musa acuminate)

Pyrolysis/gasification have proved to be promising conversion techniques to convert biomass into fuels. The current research work focuses on impregnation of Ru and Fe into banana pseudo-stem to study kinetics, pyrolytic behaviour and their impact during pyrolysis through thermogravimetric analyser (TGA). Samples weight loss were analyzed by TGA at four different heating rates (5-20 degrees C min(-1)) over the temperature range of 30-900 degrees C. Isoconversional models such as Flynn-Wall-Ozawa (FWO), Kissinger-Akahira-Sinose (KAS), and Kissinger's methods were employed to calculate the activation energy and pre-exponential factor for Ru-impregnated (FWO: E-alpha = 73.32 kJ mol(-1), KAS: E-alpha= 68.23 kJ mol(-1) and Kissinger's: E-alpha = 165.94 kJ mol(-1)) Fe-impregnated bio-mass (FWO: E-alpha= 86.78 kJ mol(-1), KAS: E-alpha= 82.34 kJ mol(-1) and Kissinger's: E-alpha = 192.37 kJ mol(-1)) and compared with raw biomass (FWO: E-alpha= 116.22 kJ mol(-1), KAS: E-alpha= 113.39 kJ mol(-1) and Kissinger's: E-alpha= 194.86 kJ mol(-1)). Lower activation energy and reduced weight loss were observed for metal impregnated biomass over the raw biomass.