An Examination of Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) Studies on Biomass Fuels

In order for a greater diversity of biomass fuels to be utilized, research on their properties needs to be collected. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) is a process by which a material is heated up in a controlled atmosphere and weighed as the sample degrades. TGA studies on biomass fuels obtain the kinetic parameters for potential biomass fuels, namely the activation energy and pre-exponential factor. These parameters allow the degradation of potential biomass fuels to be compared. The intent of this research was to examine what methods are currently being used in TGA biomass studies via a meta-analysis. There does not appear to be a TGA method developed specifically for testing of biomass fuels, however, existing methods are being applied to Biomass fuels with some modifications. The frequently used Flynn Wall Ozawa method developed from work on plastics was written up by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). Common modifications to the Flynn Wall Ozawa method, include: using higher heating rates, using a higher atmosphere flow rate, performing analysis at higher percent decompositions and using a larger sample size. Due to Covid-19 disruptions, further lab testing was not available, this provided the current research with the unique opportunity of examining data collected at ASTM E1641-18 specifications (as was collected prior to Covid-19 impacts). This provided context for certain modifications. The drawback to working with this data was that Covid-19 prevented the repeatability of observations from being tested