Catalytic co-pyrolysis of bauhinia purpurea seed and waste medical plastics for sustainable biofuel production: Kinetic analysis and prediction modeling
Devan Budiki Arumugam, Mohan Cigurupadi Ganesan
Abstract
The present study aims to investigate the potential of Bauhinia purpurea seed (BPS) and waste medical plastic (WMP) as renewable fuels. Physicochemical and thermal studies show that BPS is a great raw material for pyrolysis because it has high calorific value, rich volatility, a lot of large functional groups, and favourable surface morphology . The activation energy was calculated using the KAS, FWO, Starink, and Friedman methods. Both RSM and ANN identified the optimal conditions for bio-oil production at a temperature of 550°C, a heating rate of 10 °C/min, a blend ratio of 70 % BPS (30 % WMP), and a particle size of 1 mm, with a generated bio-oil of 43.24 %. Notably, the predicted bio-oil yield (44.4 %) closely matched the experimental result (43.24 %). The bio-oil is obtained through pyrolysis, co-pyrolysis, and catalytic co-pyrolysis at optimum conditions. An analysis determined the suitability of bio-char as an activated carbon in catalytic pyrolysis .