TG-MS analysis for thermal decomposition of cellulose under different atmospheres

•Oxidative degradation of cellulose is investigated through TG-MS analysis.•A two-stage kinetic model was proposed for cellulose oxidative degradation.•Evolution of prominent volatiles and light gases was analyzed during the process. Cellulose degradation under inert (He) and oxidative atmospheres (7% O2, 20% O2 and 60% O2) was investigated through thermogravimetric (TG) equipped with mass spectroscopy (MS) system. Two mass loss stages were observed for cellulose degraded under oxidative atmosphere, where the first mass loss stage is close to that under inert atmosphere, and the second one designated to char oxidation was enhanced by the increased oxygen concentration. The evolution of prominent volatiles including furfural, acetone, 2/5-hydromethyl furfural, formaldehyde, CO and CO2 was examined considering the influence of oxygen concentration. The plateau for mass loss and evolution of some volatiles leads to the difficulty to determine the division-point for the two stages. However, the fitting parameter (Dev%) around 5% confirms the applicability of the proposed two-stage kinetic model accounting for partial pressure of oxygen.