Kinetics of cellulose pyrolysis in the presence of nitric oxide

Abstract

Dynamic thermogravimetric analysis was conducted on Avicel cellulose in both helium and helium-nitric oxide environments to elucidate chemical kinetic parameters and mechanisms. The apparent activation energy for Avicel in helium was found to be 45 kcal/mol, in agreement.with the literature. The apparent activation energy for Avicel in the free radical scavenger nitric oxide was 38 kcal/mol. This reduction in the activation energy suggests that the mechanism for cellulose pyrolysis may be affected by the presence of free-radical scavengers, which implies a role for homolytic processes in cellulose pyrolysis.