Mt. Kilauea seems to just spew largely lava, which then spreads on to the surrounding land, while Mt. Pinatubo produced lots of volcanic ash or "lahar", which were ejected high up into the air causing much air pollution in the ensuing months. Mount Kilauea doesn't seem to release lahar.
Hello! Generally speaking, the answer lies in the type of volcano erupting and its magma silica (SiO2) content, as follows:
Mt. Kilauea is a Shield volcano, which magma consists predominately of ferromagnesian (or "dark") silicate minerals. This produces a Basaltic lava that has a lower viscosity due to low silica content. Because of the fluidity of Basaltic lavas, a low profiled extrusive volcanic structure results that generally produces quiescent eruptions.
Mt. Pinatubo, on the other hand, is a Composite cone or Stratovolcano. It's magma consists of predominately non-ferromagnesian (or "light") silicate minerals. This, in turn, produces a Rhyolitic lava which has a much higher viscosity (around 100,000x more viscous than Basaltic lava) due to its high silica content. This results in steep, magnificent extrusive volcanic structures, with associated explosive or catastrophic eruptions; and volcanic hazards including Pyroclastic flows or Lahars (if water is readily available).
Perhaps the following publications might be of some interest to you:
Preeruptive magma viscosity: an important measure of magma eruptibility
(TAKEUCHI, 2011)
Article Preeruptive magma viscosity: An important measure of magma e...
What are Volcanic Hazards?
(USGS Factsheet 002-97, revised March 2008)
https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs002-97/fs002-97.pdf
The Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI): An Estimate of Explosive Magnitude for Historical Volcanism
(NEWHALL and SELF, 1982)
Article The Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI): An Estimate of Explosi...
Volcanoes of the Portland Area, Oregon
(ALLEN, 1975)
https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/downloads/p8418s58b
N. B.: See Page 148 in the aforementioned Ore-Bin publication.
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