Generalized direct method for pyrolysis kinetic parameter estimation and comparison to existing methods

Solid-phase pyrolysis is often modelled using the Arrhenius degradation equation with three unknown parameters: reaction order, activation energy and pre-exponential factor. Since the parameters are model dependent and not directly measurable, several estimation methods have been developed over the years for extracting them from the experimental small-scale data. Lately, the most commonly used methods have been based on optimization and curve fitting. These methods are very efficient for complex problems with multiple reactions but may require significant computational time. Direct (analytic) methods are simpler and faster but often have more restrictions and limited accuracy. This article presents a new, generalized direct method and its performance evaluated along with other commonly used estimation methods. The real usability of the methods is tested also in the presence of small noise.