Title: Thermal behaviour study of senakin coal and Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) blends during pyrolysis using thermogravimetric analysis

Authors: Azil Bahari Alias; Zulkifli Abdul Rashid; Norazah Abdul Rahman; Wan Azlina Wan Ab Karim Ghani

Addresses: Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Mara, Malaysia, 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia ' Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Mara, Malaysia, 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia ' Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Mara, Malaysia, 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia ' Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

Abstract: Preliminary Thermogravimetric (TG) studies of pyrolysed Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF)-coal blends (20 to 80%) at various heating rates, 20, 40, 60 °C•min-1 have been performed to develop an efficient locally sourced renewable solid fuel. The characteristics of the coal/RDF blends followed those of the parent fuels in additive manner. Among the tested blends, 50:50 blends showed the optimum blend ratio but no synergistic effect was observed between the coal and RDF during co-pyrolysis. However, the kinetic analysis using modified Arrhenius equation indicates the existence synergistic effect between the RDF and coal, which induces lower coal pyrolysis activation energy.

Keywords: senakin coal; pyrolysis; RDF blends; refuse derived fuel; thermogravimetry; thermal behaviour; renewable energy; alternative fuels; solid fuel; kinetic analysis.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEWM.2012.049840

International Journal of Environment and Waste Management, 2012 Vol.10 No.4, pp.354 - 364

Published online: 13 Dec 2014 *

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