ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Kinetic analysis of cellulose pyrolysis: a short review

Cristina Şerbănescu

S.C. IPROCHIM S.A., Mihai Eminescu Street, 010512, Bucharest-1, Romania

E-mail: crst28@gmail.com

Abstract: Since the 1950s, cellulose pyrolysis has been the subject of intense study, with kinetic analyses forming a major part of these studies. They represent useful tools for a better understanding of the physicochemical process and for the proper design of industrial pyrolysis units. Until recently, the methods most frequently used in these analyses were based on model-fitting, i.e. the fitting of the experimental data to a number of mathematical models. Nowadays, other methods, so-called “model-free” methods, are considered to be more suited. These are based on the principle that, at constant conversion, the reaction rate depends only on temperature. In its first part, this short review presents the particularities and drawbacks of the traditional model-fitting models. Subsequently, several main contributions in this field are listed and discussed. Finally, the more suited “model-free” (isoconversional) methods are explained and several main studies presented, as well as a comparison of this method with the model-fitting ones.

Keywords: cellulose pyrolysis – model-fitting kinetic methods – isoconversional methods – TGA

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.2478/s11696-013-0529-z

Chemical Papers 68 (7) 847–860 (2014)