sugarcane bagasse. Lignocellulosic biomass after chemical or biological treatment should have higher onset of degradation temperatures than untreated biomass because of lignin and hemicellulose removal leading to high thermal stability (Ruzene et al., 2009). Untreated sugarcane bagasse resulted in more weight loss between 200 and 300 °C.
This was probably due to the higher hemicellulose content as compared to untreated biomass. Pyrolysis of hemicellulose begins at lower temperatures (220–300 °C) than cellulose (315–400 °C). Lignin begins to decompose at 160 °C (Yang et al., 2007).