Pyrolysis experiments of sawdust with KOH and K2CO3 catalysts were carried out under different heating rate in nitrogen atmosphere using thermogravimetric analyzer. The distributed activation energy model (DAEM) was used to analyze pyrolysis kinetics of sawdust. The results showed that both KOH and K2CO3 had strong catalytic effect on sawdust pyrolysis, which reduced the pyrolysis temperature of sawdust and increased the yield of char. There was only one main peak in DTG curve, which means that the pyrolysis behavior of cellulose and hemicellulose in sawdust was greatly changed. The catalytic performance of KOH was found to be more excellent in sawdust pyrolysis. Also KOH could catalyze the pyrolysis of sawdust at low temperature. The kinetic analysis results showed that the two kinds of catalysts could reduce the activation energy of sawdust pyrolysis and maintain a similar catalytic trend, but KOH had a more stable catalytic performance. (C) 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC.