Pyrolytic
characteristics of three different organic solid wastes,
municipal solid waste (MSW), digested MSW (DMSW), and digested swine
manure (SWD), were investigated at heating rates of 10, 15, and 20
°C min–1 in a thermogravimetric analyzer coupled
with mass spectrometer. Three stages of devolatilization, dehydration
(0–200 °C), decomposition of major structural components
(200–500 °C), and decomposition of solid residue (500–800
°C), appeared during the pyrolysis of all the samples. The major
devolatilization stage (stage II) is characterized with three peaks
at 319, 379, and 438 °C for MSW, two peaks at 339 and 430 for
DMSW, and one peak with a shoulder on the right at 332 and 444 °C
for SWD, respectively. The evolved gas species were quantified by
using a semiquantitative approach, and H2, CO and CO2 were noticed to be predominant gas species in the above-mentioned
range. While the evolution of H2 is mostly temperature
dependent, the evolution of CO and CO2 occurred all through
the run. Isoconversional methods along with compensation effect and
master plots were used to determine the kinetic triplet for the pyrolysis
process. The mean activation energies were 172.02–172.3, 202.21–202.55,
and 213.84–215.22 kJ mol–1, while the pre-exponential
factors were 1.81 × 1010, 1.04 × 1018, and 2.26 × 1019 for MSW, DMSW, and SWD, respectively.