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The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of heating rate on pyrolysis of wet biomass. Pyrolysis experiments were performed on dried samples (1 wt% moisture), air-dried samples (8 wt% moisture), and wet samples (16 wt% moisture) of corn straw. Biomass pyrolysis consisted of three stages, namely, moisture evaporation, main devolatilization, and continuous slight devolatilization. As the heating rate increased, the thermogravimetric/derivative thermogravimetric curves moved toward the high-temperature section, and average devolatilization rates increased. The Coats–Redfern method was used for kinetics analysis. The activation energy, which ranged from 63.5 to 70.8 kJ/mol, increased as the heating rate increased. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

To study the effect of moisture content on pyrolysis of biomass, pyrolysis tests of dried samples, air-dried samples, and wet samples of corn straw were performed using a thermogravimetric analyzer. Moisture had no influence on the components and chemical structure of straw. However, grain size of dried samples tended to diminish and small cracks appeared on the surface. These changes contribute to heat and mass transfer for biomass pyrolysis and thereby increased devolatilization rates as well as the yield of volatile matter. The activation energy values for corn straw were in the range of 68.7–70.2 KJ/mol. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]