The aim of this work was to analyze the thermal decomposition, kinetics and heat of reaction of sugarcane straw in synthetic air by thermogravimetry (TG) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The TG and DSC experiments were carried out using heating rates of 2.5 degrees C/min, 5 degrees C/min, and 10 degrees C/min, and particle diameter of 0.250 mm. In the study of the smoldering reaction were identified three consecutive stages, drying, oxidative pyrolysis, and combustion. Thus, the kinetic pathway was composed by six independent parallel reactions, three for each stage after drying, in which the activation energies were 176, 313, 150, 80, 150, and 100 kJ/mol. The heat of reaction in synthetic air was completely exothermic releasing 8 MJ/kg. The modeled curves of thermal decomposition of sugarcane straw presented good agreement with experimental data. Then, the kinetic parameters obtained could be used to analyze different processes involving smoldering. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.