Application of a New Statistical Model for the Description of Solid Fuel Decomposition in the Analysis of Artemisia apiacea Pyrolysis

Pyrolysis, one of the key thermochemical conversion technologies, is very promising to obtain char, oil and combustible gases from solid fuels. Kinetic modeling is a crucial method for the prediction of the solid conversion rate and analysis of the pyrolysis process. We recently developed a new statistical model for the universal description of solid fuel decomposition, which shows great potential in studying solid fuel pyrolysis. This paper demonstrates three essential applications of this new model in the analysis of Artemisia apiacea pyrolysis, i.e., identification of the conversion rate peak position, determination of the reaction mechanism, and evaluation of the kinetics. The results of the first application show a very good agreement with the experimental data. From the second application, the 3D diffusion-Jander reaction model is considered as the most suitable reaction mechanism for the description of Artemisia stem pyrolysis. The third application evaluates the kinetics of Artemisia stem pyrolysis. The evaluated kinetics vary with the conversion degree and heating rates, in which the activation energies and pre-exponential factors (i.e., lnA vs. Ea) show a linear relationship, regardless of the conversion and heating rates. Moreover, the prediction of the conversion rate using the obtained kinetics shows an excellent fit with the experimental data.