1 Thermal behaviour and kinetics of coal/biomass blends during co-combustion M.V. Gil, D. Casal, C. Pevida, J.J. Pis, F. Rubiera * Instituto Nacional del Carbón, CSIC, Apartado 73, 33080 Oviedo, Spain Abstract The thermal characteristics and kinetics of coal, biomass (pine sawdust) and their blends were evaluated under combustion conditions using a non-isothermal thermogravimetric method (TGA). Biomass was blended with coal in the range of 5-80 wt% to evaluate their co-combustion behaviour. No significant interactions were detected between the coal and biomass, since no deviations from their expected behaviour were observed in these experiments. Biomass combustion takes place in two steps: between 200-360 ºC the volatiles are released and burned, and at 360-490 ºC char combustion takes place. In contrast, coal is characterized by only one combustion stage at 315-615 ºC. The coal/biomass blends presented three combustion steps, corresponding to the sum of the biomass and coal individual stages. Several solid-state mechanisms were tested by the Coats-Redfern method in order to find out the mechanisms responsible for the oxidation of the samples. The kinetic parameters were determined assuming single separate reactions for each stage of thermal conversion. The combustion process of coal consists of one reaction, whereas, in the case of the biomass and coal/biomass blends, this process consists of two or three independent reactions, respectively. The results showed that the chemical first order reaction is the most effective mechanism for the first step of * Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 985 118 975; Fax: +34 985 297 662. E-mail address: frubiera@incar.csic.es (F. Rubiera)