The pyrolysis of cellulose under conditions of rapid heating

✍ Scribed by C.F. Cullis; M.M. Hirschler; R.P. Townsend; V. Visanuvimol

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1983
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 621 KB
• Volume: 49
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0010-2180
• DOI: 10.1016/0010-2180(83)90166-9

✦ Synopsis

The pyrolysis of cellulose was carried out at high beating rates and at temperatures up to 823K. Under these conditions, which approach those prevalent during cigarette smoking, virtually no char is formed and the major gaseous products are the carbon oxides. The amounts of products formed vary both with the pyrolysis temperature (passing through a maximum with increasing temperature) and with the carrier gas flow rate. The effect oftbe flow rate on the total reaction rate shows that the reaction cannot be diffusion controlled under the experimental conditions used. If the assumption is made that there is chemical control, the reaction is found to be third order in the polymer. This is reasonable because, although first*order kinetics have often been found, such behavior, in fact, represents a mixture of charring and other reactions.