A kinetic study of pyrolysis of pine wood using a thermogravimetric analyser and a combined model-free and y(α)master plot method

Pyrolysis of pine wood was investigated using a non-isothermal TGA technique at heating rates ranging from 1 to 10K min^-1. A kinetic model was also developed to reveal the pyrolysis mechanism. The pyrolysis process was modelled as a single step reaction, in which the activation energy and pre-exponential factor were obtained using a combined model-free and y() master plot method based on the experimental data. The activation energy was almost constant at 178.5 kJ mol^-1 for pine wood in the pyrolysis conversion range of 0.05 to 0.8, validating the single-step model in the major pyrolysis region of this material. The kinetic modelling results using the method in the present study showed good agreement with the experimenta l data, suggesting that the present method can serve as an accurate yet simple tool to perform the kinetic analysis and to predict the pyrolysis behaviour of the studied material.