Kinetic and thermodynamic analyses of dried oily sludge pyrolysis

Oily sludge has the potential to utilize in pyrolysis process effectively because of higher product recovery and lower harmful emissions. Due to the complex nature of reactions, it is necessary to evaluate the thermo-kinetic behavior of the process to make it commercially feasible. This study includes thermal degradation behavior, the kinetic and thermodynamic analysis of dry oily sludge by applying Friedman and Vyazovkin method (model-free approach), and Coats-Redfern method (model-fitting approach) with the help of thermogravimetric analysis TGA at different heating rates (5, 20, 40 °C/min). The active region was from 20 to 60% conversion range because the maximum conversion occurs in this region. The overall activation energy decreases as the conversion increases from a lower range (60%) to a higher range (80%) for all satisfied models. The estimated range of pre-exponential coefficient for each model was to 4.91E+15 to 2.30E-01min⁻¹ in the conversion range of 20–60% and 9.80E+02 to 4.89E-04min⁻¹ in the conversion range 60–80%. The overall value of the change in enthalpy ΔH and change in Gibbs free energy ΔG decrease as the conversion increases from the lower range to the higher range.