The vegetable straw yield was increased by improved solar greenhouse technology, yet pollution and energy wastage were caused as straw was discarded. Consequently, the energy utilization of vegetable straw was necessitated. To target straw energy utilization and pollution reduction, the compositions of cucumber straw, tomato straw, eggplant straw, and cowpea straw were determined using elemental and industrial analyzers. Furthermore, the thermal degradation characteristics and kinetics were investigated by means of the thermogravimetric analyzer. It was indicated that the four types of vegetable straws from solar greenhouses were primarily composed of C and O. Their thermal degradation process involved drying, devolatilization, fixed carbon, and char thermal degradation stages, with the devolatilization stage accounting for the most significant mass loss. When the heating rate was 10 °C/min, the comprehensive thermal degradation characteristic indices of cucumber straw, tomato straw, eggplant straw, and cowpea straw were 0.605×10 -6 , 1.006×10 -6 , 1.387×10 -6 , and 1.085×10 -6 , respectively. The thermal degradation characteristics of tomato straw, eggplant straw, and cowpea straw were superior to that of cucumber straw. Therefore, tomato straw, eggplant straw, and cowpea straw were recommended for energy utilization, whereas cucumber straw was considered more suitable for direct straw returning. Using the FWO method, the average activation energies for cucumber straw, tomato straw, eggplant straw, and cowpea straw were 168.07 kJ/mol, 211.83 kJ/mol, 186.80 kJ/mol, and 185.20 kJ/mol, respectively. Similar thermogravimetric characteristics were observed, where increased heating rates led to higher mass loss, peak shifts to higher temperatures, and a rising degradation index. Minimal differences were observed in the average activation energies derived from the FWO method, KAS method, Friedman method, Kissinger method, and Starink method. The theoretical basis for the energy utilization of solar greenhouse crop straws was provided by the results of this study.
Wang et al. (Sun,) studied this question.