A model was developed, based on the power law of growth and Avrami's concepts in nuclei growth to describe the heterogeneous nature of alkaline pulping kinetics, taking into account the effects of effective alkali concentration and temperature. It was then applied against published data to estimate model parameters. The final form of the model applied to alkaline pulping of thin hemp woody core in flow-through reactors could be represented by a first order rate equation with a time-dependent rate constant: [GRAPHICS] The rate equations applied for delignification, cellulose and xylan losses. It was found that the heterogeneous kinetic models predicted well the delignification and xylan loss of hemp woody core, with R 2 values of 0.96 and 0.97, respectively. The model was, however, less accurate in predicting cellulose loss. The values n, which could represent the acceleration/deceleration extent of growth of reacting volumes, were found to be less than unity. This demonstrated the heterogeneous characteristics of alkaline pulping for hemp woody core. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.