combustion - Can paper burn without oxygen or air?

If you put a paper inside an oven vacuum packed and go beyond $250~\mathrm{^\circ C}$, will it burn? There's no oxidizer. If not, what will happen?

Answer

No, the paper will not burn without oxygen being present.

Paper is made primarily of cellulose which is a polymer of glucose.

If you heat paper in a vacuum the cellulose simply decomposes to $\ce{H2O}$, $\ce{CO2}$, $\ce{CO}$ and carbon. As the paper decomposes it will "char" or turn brown to black as the cellulose polymer degrades. Here is a link to an abstract describing the process in more detail.