Kinetics of isothermal and non-isothermal pyrolysis of oil shale

Abstract

The kinetics of decomposition of Huadian oil shale was studied by non-isothermal and isothermal methods. The non-isothermal weight loss was recorded at different heating rates (2, 5, 10, 15 and 20 K/min) up to 873 K. Two nonisothermal methods were applied for determination of kinetic parameters: the direct Arrhenius plot method and integral method. The isothermal weight loss studies were carried out for one hour at different temperatures 623, 648, 673, 698 and 723 K. Activation energy and frequency factor were calculated. The kinetic parameters evaluated from isothermal and non-isothermal kinetic data were compared with each other. As for the two non-isothermal analysis models, the integral method shows lower deviation and hence provides a better fit of the data. The average results of non-isothermal experiments were similar to kinetic parameters determined by isothermal analysis. © 2011 Estonian Academy Publishers.