Abstract
The carbonization behaviors of spruce wood and its forest residue at different conditions were studied in this work. A standard proximateanalysis procedure delivered the lowest charcoaland fixed-carbon yields. Sample sizeconsiderably affected the charcoal and fixed-carbonyields. In this work, for spruce wood andits forest residue, an increase in sample size from10 mg to 130 mg increased the charcoal yield at950°C from 18.60 to 21.49 wt% and 26.78 to28.12 wt%, respectively. For all TGAmeasurements, both charcoal and fixed-carbonyields are significantly enhanced when a closedcrucible is employed, in comparison to an opencrucible. The highest charcoal and fixed-carbonyields obtained in this work were offered by ahigh pressure TGA at 8 bar. These findings showthe influential role of secondary char formingreactions. Conditions that improve or prolongcontact of pyrolytic vapors with the charcoalmatrix enhance the fixed-carbon yield.