The combustion behavior and kinetics of tackifying resins (such as glycerol ester of colophony/hydrogenated colophony and C9/hydrogenated C9 petroleum resin, namely GEC, GEHC, C9PR and HC9PR, respectively) were investigated by TG-FTIR and density functional theory (DFT) analyses. The calorific values of different resins are higher than that of standard coal, indicating tackifying resins and their wastes are a promising fuel for generating energy. The average activation energies obtained by Friedman method for GEC, GEHC, C9PR and HC9PR were 223.51, 162.16, 166.52 and 116.20 kJ/mol, respectively, revealing that (H)C9PR were more readily combustible than GE(H)C, and their hydrogenated products burned more easily than their unhydrogenated ones, which were strongly supported by the TG-FTIR results. DFT calculations also show that the bond dissociation energy of C-C bond of GEC is higher than those of C9PR and GEHC. The best appropriate reaction mechanism evaluated by the master plots method is R3 model.

Pyrolysis behavior of bio-based resins is of increasing interest due to their great potential in environmentally friendly and high-temperature application. Herein, the high-temperature stability, pyrolysis kinetics and mechanism of rosin glyceride (RGE), hydrogenated rosin glyceride (HRGE), C9 petro-based resin (C9PR) and hydrogenated C9 petro-based resin (HC9PR) under non-oxidizing atmosphere were investigated by TG-FTIR/MS techniques. Based on the non-isothermal TG data, activation energy was calculated by Friedman and Starink methods, and the reaction-order model of f(α)=(1-α)n was found to be the most probable pyrolysis mechanism for different resins, which was also supported by the TG-FTIR/MS results showing only a dominating pyrolysis peak. Furthermore, thanks to the unique tricyclic phenanthrene structures, bio-based resins exhibit better high-temperature stability than petro-based resins, with an initial skeleton cracking temperature of 623 K and 573 K, respectively. High-temperature stability of resins would mildly decrease after hydromodification due to weak bonds cracking. Possible pyrolysis pathways were proposed.

The combustion behavior of tackifying resins (such as glycerol ester of colophony/hydrogenated colophony and C9/hydrogenated C9 petroleum resin, namely GEC, GEHC, C9PR and HC9PR, respectively) were investigated using TG-FTIR and density functional theory (DFT) analyses. Results from combustion characteristics indicate tackifying resins and their wastes are a promising fuel for generating energy. The average activation energies obtained by Friedman method for GEC, GEHC, C9PR and HC9PR were 223.51, 162.16, 166.52 and 116.20 kJ/mol, respectively, revealing that (H)C9PR were more readily combustible than GE(H)C, and their hydrogenated products burned more easily than their unhydrogenated ones, which were strongly supported by the TG-FTIR results. DFT calculations also show that the bond dissociation energy of C-C bond of GEC is higher than those of C9PR and GEHC. The best appropriate reaction mechanism evaluated by integral master plots is f(α)=3(1-α)2/3. Volatiles are mainly composed of H2O, CH4, CO2, CO, alcohol, aromatic and carbonyl compounds.