Chemical characterization of wood and extractives of fast-growing Schizolobium parahyba and Pinus taeda.

This study aims to evaluate the chemical composition of wood and extractives ofPinus taedaandSchizolobium parahyba(guapuruvu) as potential feedstock for new applications in the biorefinery industry. For this purpose, their content ofα-cellulose, hemicellulose, insoluble lignin, hot water solubility, NaOH1%solubility, inorganic materials (ash), and monomeric sugars by high-performance liquid chromatography was quantified. Attenuated total reflectance infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis were also used to complete the physicochemical characterization of the studied woods. The extractives were obtained by soxhlet extraction with ethanol:toluene and dichloromethane and identified with pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy technique. The results showed that guapuruvu wood has the higher amount of hemicellulose (16%) when compared to pine wood (10%), which resulted in higher solubility in alkali solution. Furthermore, in relation to other biomasses, the two woods presented more percentage of lignin and minor content of hemicelluloses. TheP. taedawood presented the highest percentage of extractives mainly composed of fatty acids and aromatic hydrocarbons, while guapuruvu wood had a higher percentage of phenolic compounds and also fatty acids. Both the materials have low content of extractives with dichloromethane and were mainly composed of lipophilic compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]