Comparison of several kinetic approaches to evaluate the pyrolysis of three Mediterranean forest fuels

The thermal degradation of three Mediterranean forest fuels was studied by using thermogravimetric analysis. The different behaviours were compared and the degradation characteristics were determined for each fuel. Then a kinetic study was performed. Simple modelling of the thermal degradation was carried out with a global scheme. These results were compared with current kinetic models used in forest fire modelling. These methods predict the mass rate evolution globally. However, they do not describe the fluctuations well owing to the different pyrolysis steps. Next, the kinetic parameters were established in function of the degree of conversion with isoconversion methods for each fuel. The results calculated by the Friedman method were compared with the experimental results, showing good agreement. These data, which take into account the degree of conversion and the fuel, can be useful to model the burning rate of forest fuels.