The pyrolysis characteristics of the Jatropha curcas shell were investigated using thermogravimetric Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (TG-FTIR) and pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS). The component information of pyrolysis products and the change of functional groups in organic compounds with temperature 300~800℃ were studied. The Coast-Redfern integral method was used to solve the kinetic parameters at different heating rates. The results showed that the pyrolysis process of the Jatropha curcas shell can be divided into four stages: drying (30~100℃), preheating (100~258℃), pyrolysis (258~420℃) and carbonization (420~900℃). With the increase of heating rate, the maximum mass loss rate of the Jatropha curcas shell increased, and the increase of heating rate promote the thermal decomposition rate of the Jatropha curcas shell. With the increase of pyrolysis temperature, the intensity of absorption peak changed obviously, and the intensity of absorption peak of CO2, aldehydes and ketones gradually decreased or even disappeared. The main gas products were CO, CO2, H2O, etc., and the main volatile organic products were phenol, carbonyl compounds, guaiacol, etc. When the pyrolysis temperature increased from 400℃ to 700℃, the peak area ratio of phenolic compounds increased from 35.94% to 59.59%, the peak area ratio of carbonyl compounds decreased from 36.90% to 11.87%. When the reaction order n=1, the maximum apparent activation energy (E) was 61.34 kJ/mol, and the fitting correlation coefficients of the three heating rates were all above 98%. When the reaction order n≠1 and the n value of the maximum correlation coefficient were selected as the reaction order, then n=0.2, the activation energy (E) was 47.64 kJ/mol, and the pre-exponential factor (A) was 0.83. The apparent activation energy decreased with the increase of heating rate, and the fitting correlation coefficient was above 97%.