Kinetic analysis and modeling of maize straw hydrochar combustion using a multi-Gaussian-distributed activation energy model

Combustion kinetics of the hydrochar was investigated using a multi-Gaussian-distributed activation energy model(DAEM)to ex-pand the knowledge on the combustion mechanisms.The results demonstrated that the kinetic parameters calculated by the multi-Gaussian-DAEM accurately represented the experimental conversion rate curves.Overall,the feedstock combustion could be divided into four stages:the decomposition of hemicellulose,cellulose,lignin,and char combustion.The hydrochar combustion could in turn be divided into three stages:the combustion of cellulose,lignin,and char.The mean activation energy ranges obtained for the cellulose,lignin,and char were 273.7-292.8,315.1-334.5,and 354.4-370 kJ/mol,respectively,with the standard deviations of 2.1-23.1,9.5-27.4,and 12.1-22.9 kJ/mol,re-spectively.The cellulose and lignin contents first increased and then decreased with increasing hydrothermal carbonization(HTC)temperature,while the mass fraction of char gradually increased.