Comments on "thermal degradation behavior of hypochlorite-oxidized starch nanocrystals under different oxidized...

This paper intends to discuss the employment of the Coats-Redfern equation to compute the kinetic parameters of the thermal degradation of hypochlorite-oxidized starch nancrystals by Wei et al. [Carbohydrate Polymers 124 (2015) 124-130]. The original paper has shown some fundamental errors when presenting the Coats-Redfern (CR) integral kinetic model. This CR equation is commonly used to calculate the activation energy of the thermal degradation from a single non isothermal thermogravimetric curve. However, the use of a set of experiments recorded under different heating rates is often required to obtain accurate results, as recommended by the International Confederation for Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry (ICTAC) Kinetics Committee. The present comments are focused on these statements giving some arguments and elucidations concerning the Coats-Redfern equation.