Interpretation and Physical Meaning of Kinetic Parameters Obtained from Isoconversional Kinetic Analysis of Polymers

Several successful examples—where physically sounded kinetic information was obtained from thermoanalytical data in different application fields, such as polymerization of thermosetting resins, biobased polymers and nanocomposites, crystallization and glass transition of semi-crystalline polymers and their nanocomposites—are here presented and discussed. It is explained how the kinetic parameters obtained from advanced isoconversional methods can be interpreted in terms of reaction mechanisms or changes in the rate-limiting step of the overall process, in the case of complex chemical reactions or complex physical transitions, and how these parameters can be used to extract model-fitting parameters.

Asymptotic Approximations to the Non-Isothermal Distributed Activation Energy Model for Bio-Mass Pyrolysis

This paper describes the influence of some parameters significant to biomass pyrolysis on the numerical solutions of the non-isothermal nth order distributed activation energy model (DAEM) using the Gamma distribution and discusses the special case for the positive integer value of the scale parameter (λ), i.e. the Erlang distribution. Investigated parameters are the integral upper limit, the frequency factor, the heating rate, the reaction order, and the shape and rate parameters of the Gamma distribution. Influence of these parameters has been considered for the determination of the kinetic parameters of the non-isothermal nth order Gamma distribution from the experimentally derived thermoanalytical data of biomass pyrolysis. Mathematically, the effect of parameters on numerical solution is also used for predicting the behaviour of the unpyrolysized fraction of biomass with respect to temperature. Analysis of the mathematical model is based upon asymptotic expansions, which leads to the systematic methods for efficient way to determine the accurate approximations. The proposed method, therefore, provides a rapid and highly effective way for estimating the kinetic parameters and the distribution of activation energies.

Approximations to the Non-Isothermal Distributed Activation Energy Model for Biomass Pyrolysis Using the Rayleigh Distribution

This paper deals with the influence of some parameters relevant to biomass pyrolysis on the numerical solutions of the nonisothermalnthorder distributed activation energy model using the Rayleigh distribution. Investigated parameters are the integral upper limit, the frequency factor, the heating rate, the reaction order and the scale parameters of the Rayleigh distribution. The influence of these parameters has been considered for the determination of the kinetic parameters of the non-isothermalnthorder Rayleigh distribution from the experimentally derived thermoanalytical data of biomass pyrolysis.

Parametric Study of NTH Order Distributed Activation Energy Model for Isothermal Pyrolysis of Forest Waste Using Gaussian Distribution

This paper deals with the influence of some factors relevant to isothermal pyrolysis of residual leaves of Cedrus deodara on the asymptotic solution of the non-isothermal nth order distributed activation energy model (DAEM) using Gaussian distribution. Frequency factor, integral upper limit, the reaction order and the variance of Gaussian distribution are the parameters taken under purview of this study. In order to determine the kinetic parameters of the isothermal nth order Gaussian DAEM from thermoanalytical data of loose biomass pyrolysis, the variation of these factors has been considered. The obtained results show that the predicted results for nth order DAEM hold good at upper limit of dE, E∞ = 39 kJ mol-1.