Pyrolysis interaction of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin studied by TG-DSC-MS

The pyrolysis kinetics, heat endothermic and exothermic characteristics and gases formation of cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin and their mixtures were investigated by TG-DSC-MS to understand the interaction of biomass three components and its influence on the pyrolysis gas products. It was found that there were complex interactions among three components, and the activation energy of mixtures pyrolysis was mainly divided into two stages. During the pyrolysis process, cellulose could promote the decomposition of lignin and hemicellulose, while hemicelluloses might restrain the decomposition of cellulose and lignin. Furthermore, lignin promoted the decomposition of hemicelluloses but inhibited the decomposition of cellulose. The interactions also had a great influence on the gas products. The gas products generated during pyrolysis of three components were mainly H2, CO, H2O and CO2. Hemicellulose and lignin promote H2 release, while cellulose and lignin inhibit the release of H2O and CO2, and all three components restrain the release of CO. The effect of hemicellulose on H2O and CO2 would depend on pyrolysis temperature of 325 °C.