Effects of impregnation combined heat treatment on the pyrolysis behavior of poplar wood

To investigate the effects of urea-formaldehyde (UF) resin impregnation combined heat treatment (IMPG-HT) on the pyrolysis behavior of poplar wood, the chemical composition, pyrolysis characteristics, pyrolysis kinetics, and gaseous products released during pyrolysis of untreated (control), IMPG-HT, IMPG and HT woods were analyzed. The results demonstrate that IMPG-HT changes pyrolysis behavior of poplar wood significantly. Unlike the control and HT samples, the thermogravimetric / derivative thermogravimetric (TG/DTG) curves of IMPG wood shift toward lower temperature, and the shoulder on DTG curves weaken or even disappear. The maximum mass loss rate of IMPG-HT samples decreases, and carbon residual yield increases to 23% or more and activation energy (E) increases sharply after conversion rate (α) reaching 0.80. HT improves the thermal stability of IMPG wood, which is represented by the increase of decomposition temperature (Td) and DTG peak temperature (Tpeak) and the higher E value of IMPG-HT wood. For the pyrolysis gaseous products, IMPG-HT wood produces nitrogen-containing gases (HNCO and NH3) due to the presence of UF resin, but the amounts of these gases are less than that produced by IMPG wood because the heat treatment had removed part of N elements.