Abstract
Melon seed husk (MSH) is cheap and renewable agricultural waste biomass residue with potential for future sustainable energy utilization. However lack of comprehensive data on the physicochemical and thermokinetic characteristics of MSH has hampered its potential valorization into clean bioenergy fuels. Consequently, the solid biofuel (SBF) properties of melon seed husks (MSH) were examined in this study under pyrolysis conditions. The SBF properties of MSH was investigated through elemental, proximate analysis and bomb calorimetry to determine the elemental and calorific properties of MSH. Thermal analysis was examined by TGA/DTG analysis to examine the decomposition behavior and devolatization profile of MSH. Subsequently, the decomposition kinetics was examined by the Kissinger and isoconversional Flynn-Wall-Ozawa (FWO) models to determine the activation energy Ea and frequency factor A. The results for the Kissinger method indicated Ea = 161.26 kJ/mol and frequency factor, A = 2.08 x 1010 min-1 with the correlation value, R2 = 0.9958. For FWO, the Ea for MSH ranged from 146.81 - 296 kJ/mol for α = 0.15 to 0.60 with average Ea and A values of 192.96 kJ/mol and 2.86 x 1026 min-1, respectively at R2 = 0.9847. Overall, the results highlight the potential of MSH as a cheap, renewable and sustainable SBF for future utilization in bioenergy systems.