The object of this work was the investigation of the kinetics of wood sawdust prepyrolysis. The thermochemical decomposition of the sawdust took place between 250 and 450 degrees C in a laboratory reactor of which the basic thermal characteristics were also studied. The experimental results were processed by non-linear regression. Both degradation and charification were found to follow first order reactions. The activation energies of the degradation and charification reactions were estimated at 111 and 68.7 kJ/mole, respectively. Furthermore, proximate analysis of the partially charified solid product has shown that the volatile matter content of the solid biofuel produced was reduced by 35% after the process, whereas its gross calorific value was increased by 17%.