Kinetic thermal analytical study of saturated mono-, di- and tri-glycerides

A thermal degradation study using TG–DTG thermogravimetry was performed on three saturated fatty acids esterified with glycerol (i.e. glyceryl-tristearate (C₁₈), -tripalmitate (C₁₆) and -trimyristate (C₁₄)) at different heating rates. In addition, thermogravimetry (TG) and derivative thermogravimetry (DTG) of glyceryl di-stearate and glyceryl mono-stearate were also carried out at different heating rates. A deconvolution procedure applied to the first process and overlapping at least two steps between about 200 and 350 °C, enabled the activation energy of decomposition to be determined both by the Kissinger and the Ozawa–Flynn–Wall isoconversional methods for the deconvoluted steps of the above-mentioned fatty acids.