Multicomponent percolation schemes are introduced and discussed. They represent a generalization of usual percolation models to an arbitrary number of species. A detailed analysis of the probabilistic properties of multicomponent percolation is developed and extended to a non-numerable (continuous) distribution of species. Some initial results on transport properties are presented. The connection between multicomponent percolation models and (chemical) reaction schemes in granular materials is analyzed in detail and an application to exothermal self-propagating reactions proposed.