Dynamic kinetic analyses were performed on basic zinc carbonate using TG and DTA measurements in N-2. The thermal behavior and the kinetics of decomposition were studied. The effect of procedural variables on the kinetics was investigated. In this work, the procedural variables included heating rate and sample size. To estimate the activation energy of decomposition, the Friedman isoconversional method was applied. The activation energy (E-a) was calculated as a function of conversion (a). (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.