Thermal decomposition dynamics study and products analysis of different fibers for wrapping paper

The pyrolysis properties of wrapping paper fiber raw materials are of great significance for burning rate and the taste of cigarettes, therefore, it is essential to study the thermal decomposition dynamics of wrapping paper fibers. This paper investigated the pyrolysis characteristics and patterns of different fibers (softwood pulp, hardwood pulp, and non-wood pulp) used in wrapping paper using a thermogravimetric analyzer. The key parameters of their TG curves were determined, and the kinetic mechanism function of pulp pyrolysis was inferred based on the TG curve. The apparent activation energy (E) and pre-exponential factor (A) for the pyrolysis of each pulp were calculated, and the relationship between key pyrolysis parameters and apparent activation energy was identified. The pyrolysis products of the samples at different decomposition temperatures were studied using pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The results indicated that the correlation between apparent activation energy E and T_max is more significant. As the pyrolysis temperature increases, the types of pyrolysis products increase to more than 17. This study provides a theoretical support for the selection of pulp in the production of wrapping paper.

1 Introduction

Paper is a thin sheet material made by different proportions of softwood pulp, hardwood pulp, and non-wood pulp, which is mainly used for printing, packaging, industrial application, daily hygiene, artistic creation, and other special purposes (Deshwal et al., 2019; Zambrano et al., 2021; Alam and Christopher, 2017). Wrapping paper, as a packaging material is renewable, degradable, and environmentally friendly, and is normally used for food packaging and cigarette paper (Mujtaba, et al., 2022; Hanc and Hrebeckova, 2023; Deng et al., 2025; Wang et al., 2021). It is characterized by high air permeability, moderate combustion speed, and high strength. The weight of cigarette paper accounts for 4%–5% of the total weight of a cigarette (Li et al., 2023). Its role is to wrap the tobacco and participate in its combustion, directly affecting the appearance and taste of the cigarette. Pulp is the raw material for cigarette paper, generally making up 60%–70% of the dry weight of the paper (Chen et al., 2014; Zheng et al., 2021a). During the combustion of the tobacco, the fibers in the cigarette paper also undergo a series of thermal decomposition reactions (Zhang et al., 2016; Zheng et al., 2021b; Ju et al., 2014; Kurien et al., 2023), which in turn affect the smoking experience. Understanding the thermal decomposition products of the fibers can help evaluate the combustion of the tobacco and the taste quality of the cigarette (Li et al., 2023; Luo et al., 2021; Park et al., 2021). Currently, the production of cigarette paper primarily involves the use of wood pulps such as softwood pulp and hardwood pulp (Ren et al., 2024; Shen et al., 2014; Wang et al., 2006), as well as non-wood pulps in China (Wang et al., 2011; Sun et al., 2024; Jahan et al., 2021; Hawanis et al., 2024). Many studies have explored the effects of different blending ratios of softwood pulp, hemp pulp, and hardwood pulp on the physical properties of cigarette paper (Yu et al., 2017; Yimlamai et al., 2023), but research on the thermal decomposition of fibers is relatively scarce (Zhou et al., 2011). Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the pyrolysis products of fiber to explore their potential impact on cigarette taste for providing a basis for guiding the selection of fibers for cigarette paper.

This study uses thermogravimetric analysis and pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to explore the thermal decomposition behavior, pyrolysis products, and pyrolysis kinetics of different types of plant fiber materials at different temperatures. The decomposition temperatures, decomposition rates, remaining mass, and their relationship with activation energy were also investigated. The study aims to acquire information on the thermal stability and commonalities and differences in pyrolysis products of various plant fibers. Therefore, this study provides a basis for understanding the thermal properties of pulp and offers theoretical support for the selection of pulp materials in the production of cigarette paper and the development of functionalized cigarette papers.

2 Experimental methods

2.1 Materials

Softwood pulp (SWP), hardwood pulp (HWP), bleached bamboo pulp (BBP) were provided by MINFENG Special Paper Co., Ltd. in Jiaxing City, China. Hemp pulp (HP) was Provided by ‌Mudanjiang Hengfeng Paper Co., Ltd. in Mudanjiang City, China. Reed pulp (RP) was provided by Liaoning Zhenxing Ecological Paper Co., Ltd. in Panjin City, China. All images of the materials are shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1

Figure 1. Images of the materials.

2.2 Thermal gravimetric analysis

Before testing, the sample was cut into small pieces. 10 mg of pulp fragments were placed in an alumina crucible and subsequently put them into the TG/DSC analyzer (STA 449 F5, NETZSCH company, Germany) shown in Figure 2. During the test, high-purity nitrogen gas (99.99%) was used as the carrier gas with a flow rate of 20 mL/min. The heating rate is 10 °C/min (Yang et al., 2025; Zeng et al., 2020). The temperature range is from 30 °C to 700 °C.

Figure 2

Figure 2. The TG/DSC analyzer.

2.3 Thermal decomposition kinetics study

The temperature interval of the pulp pyrolysis is determined based on its TG curve. By studying the kinetic mechanism function during the main degradation stage of the pulp, its kinetic parameters can be calculated. The pyrolysis process of the pulp is generally represented by the following reaction Equation 1:

$\mathrm{A}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)\to \mathrm{B}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)+\mathrm{C}\left(\mathrm{g}\right)(1)$

The reaction rate Equations 2, 3 is expressed as:

$\frac{\mathrm{d}\alpha }{\text{dt}}=\text{kf}\left(\mathrm{\alpha }\right)(2)$

$\mathrm{G}\left(\mathrm{\alpha }\right)=\text{Kt}(3)$

Where, α is the conversion rate of reactant A at time t; K is the reaction rate constant; F (α) and G (α) are the differential and integral forms of the dynamic mechanism functions, respectively.

Conversion rate, α, can be calculated based on the thermal weight loss curve of pulp as Equation 4.

$\mathrm{\alpha }=\frac{{\mathrm{m}}_0-\mathrm{m}}{{\mathrm{m}}_0-{\mathrm{m}}_{\infty }}(4)$

Where, m₀ is the starting mass of pulp, which is the mass of pulp at 200 °C; m is the mass of pulp at time t of temperature; ${\mathrm{m}}_{\infty }$ is the termination mass of pulp, which is the mass of the pulp at 400 °C.

According to the Arrhenius Equation 5:

$\mathrm{k}=\text{Aexp}\left(-\frac{\mathrm{E}}{\text{RT}}\right)(5)$

The kinetic equation for the pyrolysis reaction can be obtained as follow Equations 6, 7:

$\frac{\mathrm{d}\alpha }{\text{dt}}=\text{Af}\left(\mathrm{\alpha }\right)\exp \left(-\frac{\mathrm{E}}{\text{RT}}\right)(6)$

$\mathrm{G}\left(\mathrm{\alpha }\right)={\int }_0^{\mathrm{\alpha }}\frac{\mathrm{d}\alpha }{\mathrm{f}\left(\mathrm{\alpha }\right)}=\frac{\mathrm{A}}{\mathrm{\beta }}{\int }_0^{\mathrm{T}}\exp \left(-\frac{\mathrm{E}}{\text{RT}}\right)\text{dT}=\frac{\text{AR}{\mathrm{T}}^2}{\mathrm{E}\mathrm{\beta }}\exp \left(-\frac{\mathrm{E}}{\text{RT}}\right)(7)$

Where, A is the apparent pre-exponential factor, E is the apparent activation energy, β is the heating rate, and R is the molar gas constant. The pulp pyrolysis kinetic function G(α) represents the functional relationship between the reaction rate of the substance and the conversion rate α, which reflects the reaction mechanism and directly determines the pyrolysis kinetic parameters of the pulp.

The Malek method (Malek and Smrcka, 1991; Malek and Criado, 1994; Svoboda and Malek, 2011), the (y(α)-α standard curve), is used to infer the most probable mechanism function of pulp pyrolysis. The differential and integral equations of the pyrolysis reaction can be obtained as Equations 8, 9.

$\mathrm{G}\left(\mathrm{\alpha }\right)=\frac{\mathrm{R}{\mathrm{T}}^2}{\mathrm{E}\mathrm{\beta }}\frac{\mathrm{d}\alpha }{\text{dt}}\frac{1}{\mathrm{f}\left(\mathrm{\alpha }\right)}(8)$

When α = 0.5,

$\mathrm{G}\left(0.5\right)=\frac{\mathrm{R}{\mathrm{T}0.5}^2}{\mathrm{E}\mathrm{\beta }}\left(\frac{\mathrm{d}\alpha }{\text{dt}}\right)\frac{1}{\mathrm{f}\left(0.5\right)}(9)$

Where, T_0.5 and (dα/dt)_0.5 are the reaction temperature and reaction rate at α = 0.5, respectively.

Defining the function y (α) as the quotient of Formula 8 divided by Formula 9 yields the expression for y (α) as Equation 10:

$\mathrm{y}\left(\mathrm{\alpha }\right)={\left(\frac{\mathrm{T}}{{\mathrm{T}}_{0.5}}\right)}^2\frac{\left(\frac{\mathrm{d}\alpha }{\text{dt}}\right)}{{\left(\frac{\mathrm{d}\alpha }{\text{dt}}\right)}_{0.5}}=\frac{\mathrm{f}\left(\mathrm{\alpha }\right)\mathrm{G}\left(\mathrm{\alpha }\right)}{\mathrm{f}\left(0.5\right)\mathrm{G}\left(0.5\right)}(10)$

Various pulp thermal weight loss data, αi,Ti, (dα/dt) i (i = 1, 2, … ,j) and α = 0.5, T_0.5,(dα/dt)_0.5 are substituted into the function as follow Equation 11:

$\mathrm{y}\left(\mathrm{\alpha }\right)={\left(\frac{\mathrm{T}}{{\mathrm{T}}_{0.5}}\right)}^2\frac{\left(\frac{\mathrm{d}\alpha }{\text{dt}}\right)}{{\left(\frac{\mathrm{d}\alpha }{\text{dt}}\right)}_{0.5}}(11)$

A y (α) - α relationship curve is created as the experimental curve.

Then the dynamic mechanism functions of different modes are substitute into the following Equation 12:

$\mathrm{y}\left(\mathrm{\alpha }\right)=\frac{\mathrm{f}\left(\mathrm{\alpha }\right)\mathrm{G}\left(\mathrm{\alpha }\right)}{\mathrm{f}\left(0.5\right)\mathrm{G}\left(0.5\right)}(12)$

A y (α) - α relationship curve is created as a standard curve. If the experimental curve overlaps with the standard curve, or if the experimental curve is closest to a certain standard curve, then determine that the f (α) and G (α) corresponding to the standard curve are the most probable kinetic mechanism functions of pulp pyrolysis.

2.4 Calculation of pyrolysis kinetics parameters

The pyrolysis kinetic equation can be expressed by using the Coats-Redfern method as follows Equation 13; (Svoboda and Malek, 2011):

$\ln \left[\frac{\mathrm{G}\left(\mathrm{\alpha }\right)}{{\mathrm{T}}^2}\right]=\ln \left(\frac{\text{AR}}{\mathrm{\beta }\mathrm{E}}\right)-\frac{\mathrm{E}}{\text{RT}}(13)$

The apparent activation energy (E) and the pre-exponential factor (A) of pulp pyrolysis is determined from the slope and the intercept represents according to ln[G(α)/T²] – 1/T. The apparent activation energy (E) and pre-exponential factor (A) for various pulp samples are calculated using the slope and intercept of the regression equation.

2.5 Analysis of thermal cracking products

Before testing, pulp board was cut into small square pieces of about 1–2 mm. An appropriate amount of sample fragments was collected in a sealed small centrifuge tube and stored in a sealed bag. A pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GCMS) equipment was used to analyze the pyrolysis products of different samples. The pyrolysis temperatures are set at 300 °C, 600 °C, and 900 °C. The pyrolysis temperature is generally set around the temperature of the maximum rate of weight loss or the highest temperature of cracking, and the cracking time is 20 s. The pyrolysis process consists of three stages concluding pyrolysis, adsorption, and release steps. For pyrolysis, the pyrolysis atmosphere is mainly set as air. The initial temperature of the pyrolysis probe is 50 °C. The heating rate is 20 °C/ms. The pyrolysis time is 20 s. For Gas Chromatograph analysis, injection port temperature is 280 °C, initial temperature is 40 °C, and the heating rate is 10 °C/min. Gas flow rate is 83.7 mL/min. The chromatographic column used is an Agilent HP-5MS column with dimensions of 30 m × 250 μm × 0.25 μm. For Mass Spectrometer analysis, the electron energy for mass spectrometry is 70 eV. The ion source is an EI source, and the ion source temperature is 230 °C. The transmission line temperature is 300 °C. Mass scanning range is 35–300 amu. The carrier gas used for the gas-chromatography-mass spectrometry system is helium with a flow rate of 1.6 mL/min.

3 Results and discussion

3.1 Comparison of pyrolysis patterns of different fibers

To reduce the impact of moisture content on the analysis results, the sample mass at 110 °C is taken as the initial mass. The TG curve of the sample is processed as shown in Figure 3, and the key thermal analysis parameters for different samples are shown in Table 1. As seen in Table 1, the T_w, T_0.05, T_0.1, T_0.5, and T_max values for the different types of pulp are very close with their average values of 285.07 °C, 302.27 °C, 320.13 °C, 357.61 °C, 358.96 °C, and 17.90 °C, respectively. The relative range is 3.89%–17.75%, indicating that the thermal stability of the various pulps is quite similar. Among them, the Vmax for SWP, HWP, and HP are 17.37%/min, 15.99%/min, and 19.88%/min, respectively. The average residual mass (residue rate) at 400 °C and 600 °C are 22.82% and 17.02%, respectively. This indicates that the pulp has almost completely lost its mass at 400 °C, and further increasing the temperature has a minimal effect on the residual mass. At 600 °C, the residual mass of HP is the lowest with only 15.25%. The water adsorbed in the pulp sample experienced a desorbed process in room temperature at around 110 °C. A distinct weight loss peak can be observed between 80 °C and 90 °C with a mass loss of about 5% to the initial sample for water evaporation. A flat TG curve and unchanged pulp quality were found at around 110 °C–220 °C. At this stage, the cellulose glucose groups in the pulp begin to dehydrate, but the loss of cellulose quality is minimal. In addition, small molecule gases including steam, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide in the pulp escape during the pyrolysis process, resulting in a sample mass loss of 1%–3%. The remaining mass of pulp samples significantly decreased at around 220 °C–400 °C, and a distinct weight loss peak appeared in the DTG curve. The sample mass decreased from about 90% to 20% at around 350 °C. The main component of pulp, cellulose, undergoes ring opening and cleavage of glycosidic bonds, resulting in the formation of new products and small molecule volatile compounds. The sample quality loss is 5%–10% at 400 °C–700 °C, and the remaining mass is around 18% at 700 °C. At this stage, the residual cellulose in the pulp undergoes aromatization and gradually forms graphite structures, as well as a slow decomposition process of some lignin residues and inorganic compounds, ultimately resulting in the formation of coke and ash.

Figure 3

Figure 3. TG and DTG curves of different fibers.

Table 1

Table 1. TG analysis key parameters of different fibers.

3.2 Thermal decomposition kinetics study

From the above TG curves of pulp, it can be seen that the pyrolysis process of pulp mainly goes through four stages at a certain heating rate. Considering that the initial stage of pyrolysis is mainly the evaporation of water and the later stage is the slow decomposition of residual parts, the difference in TG curves of pulp mainly lies in the manifestation of 200 °C ∼ 400 °C. The TG curves at other temperatures are very similar. At the same time, the main study focusses on the kinetic mechanism function of pulp in the main thermal degradation stage of 200 °C ∼ 400 °C and calculation of the kinetic parameters. In order to avoid the influence of moisture in pulp on conversion rate calculation, 200 °C was taken as the starting temperature for pulp thermal weight loss, and the TG curve was normalized as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4

Figure 4. TG curves of different fibers (normalization at 200 °C).

The Malek method was used to create y (α) - α relationship curves for different pulps based on Formulas 10, 11, which were considered as experimental curves as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5

Figure 5. The pyrolysis y(α)-α curves of different fibers.

The kinetic mechanism function was substituted into Equation 10 to plot the y(α)-α relationship curve, which is considered the standard curve. If the experimental curve coincides or is close to the standard curve, it is determined to be the most probable kinetic mechanism function for pulp pyrolysis. As shown in Figure 6, it can be seen that the pyrolysis mode of the pulp is an interfacial reaction, and the reaction order is second, third, or fourth order. Alternatively, the pulp pyrolysis mode could be three-dimensional diffusion (Jander), and the kinetic mechanism function is G(α) = 1-(1-α)^1/n(n = 2,3,4) or G(α) = [1-(1-α)^1/3]².

Figure 6

Figure 6. Y (α) - α curves of different kinetic mechanism functions.

The ln[G(α)/T²] – 1/T relationship curves for different plant fibers were plot according to Formula 13 as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7

Figure 7. Y (α) - α pyrolysis curves of different pulps.

The apparent activation energy (E) and pre-exponential factor (A) of the fibers based on the slope and intercept of the regression equation were calculate as shown in Table 2.

Table 2

Table 2. Thermal decomposition equations and kinetic functions of different pulp.

As shown in Table 2, all pulp pyrolysis kinetic regression equations exhibit a good linear relationship with a correlation coefficient R² > 0.935, i.e., R > 0.97. As the reaction order increases from 2nd to 4th, both the correlation coefficient and the apparent activation energy show an increasing trend. When the reaction order is 4, the correlation coefficient R² is 0.953, i.e., R > 0.98. Therefore, the reaction order of 4 is more suitable for the kinetic equation of pulp pyrolysis, which corresponds to the mechanism function G(α) = 1-(1-α)^1/4. When the kinetic mechanism function of pulp pyrolysis is G(α) = [1-(1-α)^1/3]², its activation energy follows the same trend. Therefore, G(α) = 1-(1-α)^1/4 is chosen as the mechanism function for pulp pyrolysis. The decomposition temperature and apparent activation energy during the pulp weight loss process represent the thermal stability of the pulp. However, an obvious deviation between different fibers was found. The possible explanations for the deviation are as follows: (1) Pulp also contains hemicellulose, lignin, and other organic or inorganic substances except cellulose. Therefore, the degradation and interaction of these substances affect the thermal degradation of pulp, resulting in some inconsistencies between the maximum weight loss temperature and cellulose content. (2) The factors affecting thermal decomposition are not limited to dynamic factors during pulp weight loss, but also include other factors such as heat and mass transfer. Therefore, the apparent activation energy calculated based on this dynamic model is not completely consistent with the decomposition temperature. By comparing the decomposition temperatures Tw and Tmax of 5 kinds of pulp, a certain correlation between the decomposition temperature and apparent activation energy was found as shown in Figure 8. The regression equations corresponding to apparent activation energy and Tw, Tmax are y = 0.12x+342.09 and y = 0.25x+250.06. This result indicates that there is a correlation between them. The correlation between the apparent activation energy, E, and T_max is more significant.

Figure 8

Figure 8. The relationship between thermal decomposition temperature and apparent activation energy of pulp.

In summary, the larger the apparent activation energy of the pulp sample, the more energy is required for its decomposition, and the corresponding decomposition temperature is generally higher, indicating better thermal stability of the pulp. Relatively speaking, the correlation between apparent activation energy E and Tmax is more significant.

As shown in Table 3, the composition of pulps could affect the crystalline states of cellulose. In addition, more energy needs to be consumed to destroy the crystalline region during the process of pyrolysis. Hence, extra energy consumption caused higher themal stability. Among all the pulps, HWP begins to slowly decompose at 275.57 °C with a weight loss rate of 50% at 355.76 °C. The maximum decomposition rate is found at 358.06 °C. The apparent activation energy of pyrolysis is only 122 kJ/mol, which is consistent with that of HWP from the study carried out by Zhang et. al. (129.35 kJ/mol) (Zhang et al., 2016). What’s more, BBP, HP, and RPA showed high apparent activation energies with 139 kJ/mol, 141 kJ/mol, and 143 kJ/mol, respectively. These results were very similar with that of flax pulp (144.24 kJ/mol) and HP (149.99 kJ/mol) (Zhang et al., 2016). At 600 °C, the residual rate of BP is only 14.74%. The above results indicate that HWP has a low decomposition temperature and a fast decomposition rate, suggesting that it is a rapid weight loss process. Therefore, the combustion characteristics of cigarette paper can be adjusted by blending coniferous pulp, coniferous pulp, and non-wood pulp. The chemical compositions of pulp were the main criteria in deciding the thermal stability of pulp.

Table 3

Table 3. Key parameters for TG analysis of different pulp.

3.3 Pyrolysis products analysis

The thermal pyrolysis products of the pulp at different temperatures are shown in Figure 9 and Table 4. Hemp pulp pyrolysis produced 14 types of compounds under 300 °C concluding sugars and acids. Among all its pyrolysis products, sugars accounted for the highest percentage at 66.15%, followed by amino acids with 13.03%. As the pyrolysis temperature increased, the types and quantities of hemp pulp pyrolysis products significantly increased. Hemp pulp produced 20 major types of compounds at 600 °C. Among all its pyrolysis products, aldehydes had the highest percentage with 22.17%, followed by ketones with 18.46%. As the pyrolysis temperature continued to rise, hemp pulp produced 17 major types of compounds at 900 °C. Among all its pyrolysis products, sugars had the highest percentage with 17.01%, followed by ketones and aldehydes with 14.16% and 13.62%, respectively.

Figure 9

Figure 9. Thermal cracking products of different pulp at 300 °C, 600 °C, and 900 °C.

Table 4

Table 4. Comparison of total thermal cracking products of different pulps at 300 °C, 600 °C, and 900 °C.

The thermal pyrolysis products of SWP at 300 °C consist of 8 types of compounds including acids, hydrocarbons, and sugars. Acids, alcohols, and esters have higher proportions, accounting for 41.34%, 22.79%, and 16.80%, respectively. As the pyrolysis temperature increased, the types and quantities of SWP pyrolysis products significantly increased. At 600 °C, the chemical reaction degree of SWP pyrolysis improved, and both the number of pyrolysis products and types increased compared to those at 300 °C. High boiling point compounds such as nitrogen heterocycles, phenols, and furan or pyran compounds were found. Among the pyrolysis products, nitrogen heterocycles, ketones, and hydrocarbons had higher proportions, accounting for 19.10%, 18.48%, and 13.98%, respectively. As the pyrolysis temperature continued to rise to 900 °C, the number and types of SWP pyrolysis products increased. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons appeared. Among the pyrolysis products of cork pulp, sugars had the highest proportion with 66.76%, while the remaining substances had lower proportions.

The thermal pyrolysis products of HWP consisting of 5 types of compounds at 300 °C, hydrocarbons, acids, amines, aldehydes, and heterocyclic compounds. Acids, heterocyclic compounds, and hydrocarbons have the highest proportions accounting for 30.54%, 25.34%, and 23.64%, respectively. As the pyrolysis temperature increases, the types and quantities of HWP pyrolysis products significantly increase. Phenols, nitrogen heterocycles, esters, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were found. 17 types of pyrolysis products are generated at 600 °C. Among all the pyrolysis products, ketones have the highest proportion at 31.74%. When the pyrolysis temperature reaches 900 °C, the types of pyrolysis products slightly decrease, but both phenolic compounds and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are found. Among all the pyrolysis products, sugars, aldehydes, and ketones have the highest proportions accounting for 15.12%, 13.44%, and 13.27%, respectively.

The thermal pyrolysis products of BP consist of 8 types of compounds at 300 °C. Among all its pyrolysis products, alcohols have the highest proportion at 42.27%. Acids and phenols account for 17.90% and 12.63%, respectively. As the pyrolysis temperature increases, the types and quantities of BP pyrolysis products significantly increase. BP generates 21 types of compounds at 600 °C. Among all its pyrolysis products, ketones have the highest proportion at 18.98%, followed by heterocyclic compounds and aldehydes, which account for 17.75% and 17.22%, respectively. The thermal pyrolysis products of BP consist of 15 types at 900 °C with the highest proportion of sugars at 17.62%. Amines and aldehydes account for 16.71% and 14.98%, respectively.

The pyrolysis products of RP consist of 6 types of compounds at 300 °C. Aldehydes have the highest proportion at 32.25%, followed by phenols (24.15%) and nitrogen heterocycles (24.11%). The thermal pyrolysis products of RP consist of 13 types at 600 °C. Among all its pyrolysis products, sugars have the highest proportion at61.93%, followed by ketones (8.61%) and aldehydes (8.12%). The pyrolysis products of RP consist of 13 types at 900 °C. Among all its pyrolysis products, saccharides have the highest proportion at 59.04%%, followed by aldehydes (5.23%) and amines (5.18%).

4 Conclusion

In this study, the pyrolysis characteristics and patterns of different fibers (SWP, HWP, BBP, HP, and RP) used in wrapping paper were studied using a thermogravimetric analyzer. The pyrolysis kinetics functions were also investigated, and the parameters in the pyrolysis kinetics curves of each pulp were calculated. The relationship between key pyrolysis parameters and apparent activation energy was identified. Besides, a pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry system was used to study the types and quantities of pyrolysis products of the pulps at different decomposition temperatures (300 °C, 600 °C, and 900 °C). Based on the TG analysis of the pulps, it showed that the thermal stability of the various pulps is quite similar. The kinetic mechanism function of pulp pyrolysis is G(α) = [1-(1-α)1/3]2, its activation energy follows the same trend. Therefore, G(α) = 1-(1-α)1/4 is chosen as the mechanism function for pulp pyrolysis. Four kinds of pulp have different pyrolysis products at different stages of pyrolysis temperature. Therefore, this study provides theoretical support for the selection of pulp materials in the later stages of wrapping paper production and the development of functionalized wrapping paper.

Data availability statement

The datasets presented in this study can be found in online repositories. The names of the repository/repositories and accession number(s) can be found in the article/supplementary material.

Author contributions

HW: Data curation, Investigation, Writing – original draft. XS: Data curation, Visualization, Writing – original draft. GZ: Formal Analysis, Validation, Writing – original draft. MY: Investigation, Writing – original draft. LZ: Data curation, Writing – original draft. KW: Formal Analysis, Writing – original draft. CZ: Conceptualization, Supervision, Writing – review and editing. WZ: Supervision, Writing – review and editing, Methodology. YH: Methodology, Writing – original draft. MM: Conceptualization, Supervision, Writing – review and editing.

Funding

The authors declare that financial support was received for the research and/or publication of this article. This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 52402121 and 22478196). The experimental assistance from the Advanced Analysis and Test Center of Nanjing Forestry University is gratefully acknowledged.

Conflict of interest

Authors HW, XS, GZ, MY, LZ, KW, and CZ were employed by China Tobacco Jiangsu Industrial Co., Ltd.

The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Generative AI statement

The authors declare that no Generative AI was used in the creation of this manuscript.

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