Experimental and kinetic study of thermal decomposition behaviour of phytoremediation derived Pteris vittata

Combustion and gasification for biomass to energy conversion is often suggested for the management of residual Pteris vittata from phytoremediation. In this study, the thermal behaviour of P. vittata was studied on a thermogravimetric analyser, and the kinetic triplet of biomass sample was further determined for different stages of the thermochemical processes using the Ozawa and KAS methods, subsequently modified by an iterative procedure. Results show that thermal decomposition under combustion condition was complete at a lower temperature of ~500 °C compared to ~700 °C for gasification, indicating the both easily complete conversion of P. vittata by combustion and gasification. Kinetic study shows that although activation energy for each stage under combustion condition is mostly larger than that under gasification, the reaction rate of thermal decomposition of P. vittata under combustion condition is still great larger than that under gasification condition. These findings strongly suggest that thermochemical processes offer suitable methods for the volume reduction and energy production of P. vittata.