Characteristic and Kinetics of Pyrolysis of Sawdust and Its Hydrolysis Residues

Lignin and small amounts of un-hydrolyzed cellulose and hemi-cellulose are the residues of sawdust hydrolysis. Thermal properties of sawdust and its hydrolysis residues were studied using TG(thermogravimetry) and DTG(derivation thermogravimetry) curves obtained in N_2 atmosphere.The activation energy and pre-exponential factor for pyrolysis of the residues were estimated from the kinetic models for first order parallel reactions. The results show that lignin is the main source of coke formed in rapid pyrolysis and that increasing the heating rate causes significant increases in both the temperature and rate of sawdust pyrolysis.