Pyrolysis Kinetics of Newspaper and Its Gasification

This study deals with understanding the pyrolysis decomposition mechanism of newspaper and its conversion into gaseous fuel. To know the nature of decomposition, thermogravimetric and differential thermal analyses have been performed at the heating rates of 5, 10, and 20 K/min under a nitrogen environment. Thermal degradation characteristics and the kinetic parameters (order of reaction, activation energy, and pre-exponential factor) have been determined from the thermogravimetric curves. Finally, gasification of newspaper is performed in an oxygen-free environment at different temperatures and heat-keeping times, defined as the time with a constant temperature in the reactor and the produced gases have been analyzed in a gas chromatograph. It is observed that temperature and heat-keeping time have significant effect on the compositions of gases generated from pyrolysis of newspaper.