Fuel Characterisation of the Physicochemical, Thermal and Kinetic Properties of Corn Cob Biomass Wastes for Potential Energy Recovery

This study presents insights into the solid biofuel properties of corn cob biomass (CCB) wastes for sustainable energy recovery. The physicochemical, thermal, and kinetic properties of CCB were charac-terised through ultimate, proximate, heating value, and thermogravimetric (TGA) analyses. Results showed that CCB contains high carbon (41.88 wt.%), hydrogen (6.33 wt.%), volatile matter (68.21 wt.%), and higher heating (15.70 wt.%) values for potential energy recovery. However, the high ash (16.56 wt.%) content could pose bed agglomeration, fouling, and sintering problems during high-temperature conversion. Thermal analysis resulted in 55.84%-59.51% loss of mass and residual mass of 40.49%-44.17%. Kinetic analyses revealed that CCB is highly reactive as characterised by the average activation energy, Ea=134.58 kJ/mol and pre-exponential factor, ko=2.53×l008/min. In conclusion, CCB is a potentially practical feedstock for sustainable energy recovery through thermo-chemical conversion. © 2020. All rights reserved.