Impact of torrefaction on the chemical structure of birch wood

Tooran Khazraie Shoulaifar*, Nikolai DeMartini, Stefan Willför, Andrey Pranovich, Annika I. Smeds, Tommi Antti Petteri Virtanen, Sirkka Liisa Maunu, Fred Verhoeff, Jacop H.A. Kiel, Mikko Hupa

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

58 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Torrefaction is the thermal pretreatment of biomass at temperatures of 200-300 °C in an inert atmosphere with the objectives of improving resistance to biodegradation, reducing hydrophilicity, improving grindability and increasing energy density. In this work, we studied the effect of torrefaction temperature (240-280 °C) on the chemistry of birch wood. The samples were from a pilot plant at ECN, and in that way, they were representative of industrially produced samples. We have measured the concentration of hemicellulose and cellulose; changes in the extractives content and composition; and in the lignin structure. We used acid methanolysis and acid hydrolysis for hemicellulose and cellulose analysis, respectively; Klason lignin method, 13C CP-MAS NMR, Dipolar Dephasing NMR, and Py-GC-MS analysis for lignin characterization; and acetone extraction, HPSEC, GC-FID, and GC-MS analysis for extractives characterization. The results provide a more complete picture of the chemical changes in wood by torrefaction.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3863-3872
JournalEnergy & Fuels
Volume28
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 19 Jun 2014
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

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