Co-pyrolysis of Sewage Sludge and Rice Straw: Thermal Behavior and Char Characteristic Evaluations

In terms of thermal behavior and char characteristics, co-pyrolysis of sewage sludge (SS) and rice straw (RS) to produce char samples has been evaluated in this study. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) of co-pyrolysis process indicated that the introduction of RS into co-pyrolysis with SS promoted the progress of co-pyrolysis by reducing the reaction activation energy, which also presented the synergistic effects during co-pyrolysis process due to the migration of alkali metals. The char characteristics were analyzed by proximate analysis, elemental analysis, N2 adsorption-desorption, X-rays diffraction (XRD) patterns, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and the heavy metals behavior. The results showed that char samples from co-pyroysis of SS and RS with the high ash content and low heating value were not suitable for fuel. However, these char samples can be used for soil amendments due to the advantages of the increased C contents, pH and electrical conductivity (EC) values, the developed hierarchical por...