In many industrial processes wood is treated as big fragments or pellets. In such conditions kinetics and yields are different with respect to the case of particles with few mg weight. However most of published kinetic models were based on experimental data obtained with very small samples. In this work pyrolysis of wood pellets was investigated by using a special experimental device which allowed to determine kinetics of total weight loss, gas and tar production. Two different heating rates, 0.05 and 1 K/s, were employed to determine kinetic parameters. Dynamic and isothermal pyrolysis tests were carried out on beech and pine wood previously dried in an oven. A simple but realistic kinetic scheme was proposed able to take in to account the phenomena that happen in big wood particles. The numerical parameters were determined from the results of experimentation on beech wood. The proposed kinetic model takes into account the presence of two different stages during pyrolysis: a first one involving only unreacted wood and a second one where the products not yet escaped from the solid matrix react further. This kinetic model allowed to fit the experimental data quite well. The model was successfully validated with tests performed at an elevated heating rate (approximately 60-100 K/s) of the external surface of the pellets. In these conditions, the pellets showed a marked gradient of temperature inside, which was suitably considered. (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.