The investigation of Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles on the thermal characteristic of Tetraselmis chuii (T.Chuii) microalgae during combustion process has been carried out through a thermogravimetric (TG) analyzer. T.Chuii microalgae samples were cultured within 8 days at BBPBAP Jepara, Central Java, Indonesia. The microalgae sediment was dried at 80°C for 24 hours then was powdered by means of a mortar. Thereafter, the dried powder of microalgae was filtered with a size of 60 mesh. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles were used as catalysts with the particle size of < 25 nm; these were obtained from Singapore’s Sigma Aldrich. Amount of 0.03 mg of TiO2 and 10 mg of T.Chuii microalgae were mixed mechanically using a mortar to guarantee the homogeneous blend, and then this sample was heated up in the oven for 14 hours at 80°C. The TG experiment was performed at a temperature range 25 to 900°C with atmospheric air at a flow rate of 50 mL/min and a heating rate of 15 °C/min. Differential method of Arrhenius is applied to evaluate kinetic parameters, including reaction order (n), activation energy (Ea), and pre-exponential factor (log A) that were 0.9; 74,191 kJ/mol and 6.38 min-1 for the stage II and 0.87; 118.47 kJ/mol and 7.29 min-1 for stage V.
A Kinetic Study on Tetraselmis chuii Combustion: The Catalytic Impact of Nanoparticle Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) Additive
