CHEMICAL AND ENERGETIC CHARACTERIZATION OF Eucalyptus grandis × Eucalyptus urophylla CLONES SUBJECT TO WIND DAMAGE

Abstract

Wind damages are common in forest plantations and the use of this wood can minimize losses. The objective was to evaluate the chemical composition and the energetic potential of wood and charcoal from trees subject to wind damage. Eight (A to H) two-years-old Eucalyptus grandis × Eucalyptus urophylla clones were selected in a region where wind damage is frequent. The basic density, calorific value, chemical composition of wood and calorific value, immediate chemistry and gravimetric yield of charcoal were determined for all clones. Materials with high lignin content and low S/G ratio had higher gravimetric yield. The energy density of wood and charcoal showed high relationship with the basic and apparent relative density, respectively. All materials showed potential for bioenergy, but the clone E stood out with higher gravimetric yield and energy density.

Energy characterization of wood and charcoal from Savannah forest species

“…Thus, given that the calorific value portrays the effective amount of energy provided by the mass of the fuel (Costa et al 2017), the charcoal of E. gummiferum was 1.05 times more energetic than that of A. fraxinifolium. All values for high heating value were consistent with the literature values for charcoal from Savannah species, from 30 to 33.36 MJ/kg (Figueiredo et al 2018;Siqueira et al 2020), and from the Eucalyptus genus, from 29.29 to 31.77 MJ/kg (Zanuncio et al 2019;Protásio et al 2021).…”

“…For the total extractives content, the wood of E. gummiferum presented values 1.3 times higher than that of A. fraxinifolium. The results were similar to those of Eucalyptus (1% to 5%), which is the main genus employed in the forest energy sector (Zanuncio et al 2019;Vieira et al 2021) The nature and diverse composition of extractives and their amounts in the wood determine the biofuel heating value for energy purposes (Dadile et al 2020). In this sense, woods with a high extractive content, such as those in the present studyespecially E. gummiferum, are indicated to be better for charcoal production.…”

Heartwood and Sapwood of Tectona grandis wood characterized by CG/MS-PY

“…The S/G ratio of the T. grandis heartwood and sapwood was lower than that of the 70-year-old teak wood from the DBH position, 0.8 for heartwood and sapwood with total lignin content of 35.4% for the sapwood and 37.3% for the heartwood (Loureço et al 2015) and for the 12 years old teak trees with a total lignin content of 31% and a S/G ratio of 0.72 (Chagas et al 2014) and of Eucalyptus spp. used for Kraft Pulp production, with an S/G from 2.0 to 3.2 (Zanuncio et al 2019). Differences between the S/G ratio values may be due to the growth stage (age), climatic factors and exposure to microorganisms, insects and pests (Prasad et al 2015).…”

Chemical composition of heartwood and sapwood of Tectona grandis characterized by CG/MS-PY

“…The S/G ratio of the T. grandis heartwood and sapwood was lower than that of the 70-year-old teak wood from the DBH position, 0.8 for heartwood and sapwood with total lignin content of 35.4% for the sapwood and 37.3% for the heartwood 15 and for the 12 years old teak trees with a total lignin content of 31% and a S/G ratio of 0.72 29 and of Eucalyptus spp. used for Kraft Pulp production, with an S/G from 2.0 to 3.2 30 . Differences between the S/G ratio values may be due to the growth stage (age), climatic factors and exposure to microorganisms, insects and pests 31 .…”