Experiments and kinetic analysis on the co-pyrolysis of cellulose and lignin

The characteristics and kinetics of pyrolysis and co-pyrolysis of the cellulose and lignin were investigated using a thermogravimetric analyzer(TGA).The TG/DTG curves show that the pyrolysis process of lignin alone has two different temperature zones;the rapid pyrolysis of cellulose happens in the temperature zone of 300-380 ℃;mutual inhibition occurs in co-pyrolysis at the low content of cellulose(≤40%),and synergistic effect appears at the high content of cellulose(≥60%).The results of kinetics analysis testify that the process of pyrolysis and co-pyrolysis of cellulose and lignin can be described with a first order reaction model.The activation energy(E) increases with the content of cellulose increasing further,but its value is always lower than the activation energy of linear additivity(Ec),which partly illustrates that synergistic effect happens in the process of co-pyrolysis.