| Abstract: | Bagasse is a solid waste that remains after crushing sugarcane. Since bagasse is used as a fuel in sugar mills, characterization of its thermal degradation is rather important in order to use it efficiently. Thermal analysis of bagasse was carried out using differential thermal analysis (DTA) and thermogravimetry (TG) under oxidizing and inert atmospheres. Kinetic studies were based on weight loss obtained from TG analysis. Thermal degradation of bagasse takes place in two stages: volatilization and carbonization. The reaction rate, activation energy, entropy change, enthalpy change, and Gibbs free energy for the two thermal stages were calculated. The results indicated that activation energy for the volatilization stage is higher than that of decarbonization stage, and that both the rate constant and activation energy for combustion are higher than those of pyrolysis. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |
