Nonisothermal kinetics of wood degradation in supercritical methanol

The kinetic analysis of wood degradation in supercritical methanol has been studied by a nonisothermal weight loss technique. The weight loss data according to degradation temperature have been analyzed using two integral methods based on Arrhenius form to obtain the kinetic parameters, such as apparent activation energy and overall reaction order. The experiments were carried out for three heating rates of 5.2, 11.6 and 16.3 degrees C/min. It was found that there are the distinct mass changes over the temperature range of 260-370 degrees C for all three heating rates, and the weight loss curves were displaced to higher temperatures as increasing of heating rate. The activation energies of wood degradation in supercritical methanol were 73.5-74.5 kJ/mol and 45.2-48.8 kJ/mol, and the reaction orders were 0.59-0.64 and 0.25, depending on the mathematical approach taken in the analysis and the heating rate.