The kinetic study of pyrolysis of lignite and polyethylene plastic bag waste using the thermogravimetric analysis

Abstract Lignite or low rank coal has a great potential to be utilized as an alternative energy. In this study, the pyrolysis of lignite and polyethylene plastic bag waste with different compositions (0, 25, 50 and 75 wt.% of polyethylene) had been investigated using a thermogravimetric analyzer. The results showed that the decomposition temperature of lignite was in the range of 250-600°C, while the decomposition temperature of lignite-polyethylene plastic bag waste mixtures was around 280-600°C. The addition of polyethylene to the lignite during pyrolysis reaction contributed to the increasing mass decomposition from 32.16 wt.% (lignite only or 0 wt.% of polyethylene) to 72.70 wt.% (75 wt.% of polyethylene). Furthermore, the thermogravimetric data were used to perform the kinetic study. The obtained kinetic parameters (activation energy and pre-exponential factor) for both lignite and lignite-polyethylene plastic bag waste mixtures were in the range of 16.16-28.95 kJ/mol and 0.014-0.212 min -1 .