This research study combustion kinetics of four biomass samples in China, red pine (Pinus tabulaeformis), corn straw (hybrid corn Zheng Dan-958), Bermuda grass and bamboo (Phyllostachys heterocycla var), using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Three stages of combustion process are identified as water evaporation, removal and combustion of volatile matters and combustion of char. Thermal kinetic parameters of each sample are calculated by using 1st order Coats-Redfern method based on the TGA data. It is found that the activation energy of the global process is in the range of 53.6-65.2 kJ mol(-1) with a poor linear correlation. The experimental data are then used to develop a two-stage reaction kinetic scheme with low temperature region (2nd stage) and high temperature region (3rd stage). The activation energy of the second stage is in the range of 123.5-140.5 kJ mol(-1) and that of the third stage was in the range of 59.4-93.4 kJ mol(-1), both of which were based on the 1st order Coats-Redfern method. Because the global process of actual combustion is different from the TGA, a modified weighted average model is proposed based on the two-stage reaction kinetic scheme. According to the modified model, the kinetic parameters of the global process for actual combustion are calculated and are all found a little smaller than that of the 2nd stages. That will benefit for the combustion simulation and the design of facility of biomass fuel. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.