Characterization and Thermal Degradation of Rice Husk via TGA

New and renewable fuels are the major alternative to conventional fossil fuels. Biomass is a form of agricultural residues and is becoming popular among new renewable energy sources especially in an agricultural country such as Malaysia. Among the biomass, rice husk represents one of the highest agricultural wastes in Malaysia. Pyrolysis of biomass is one of the most important thermal conversion processes to produce bio-oil. The aim of the present study is to determine the characteristics and thermal degradation behavior of rice husk via thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). Chemical analyses show that rice husk contains a high amount of organic constituents of hemi-cellulose (24%), cellulose (29%), and lignin (12.2%). Furthermore, the TG results show that the lignin is relatively more thermally stable than hemi-cellulose and cellulose. Evaluation of biomass resources as potential feedstock for conversion to bio-fuel generally requires information about proximate analysis, ultimate analysis, organic component analysis (hemi-cellulose, cellulose and lignin contents), and calorific value determination.