Modeling pyrolysis of wet wood under external heat flux

Experiments on the thermal decomposition of wet wood in air were carried out in this work. The samples (typically 100×100 mm exposed surface, 15 mm thick) of several species with moisture content from 5% to 30% were subjected to a uniform heat flux 20–70 kW m−2. A one-dimensional pyrolysis model is proposed to examine the influence of heat flux, species and moisture content on the process of thermal decomposition of wet wood. Temperature profiles at different points and solid conversion are calculated and compared with experimental data. There is good agreement between the experimental and calculated results.