Identification of Extractives from Various Poplar Species

Abstract

Fast-growing poplar trees from plantations are the source of inexpensive wood that is intended mainly for chemical processing in the pulp and paper industry. Their potential as raw material for biofuel manufacturing is widely discussed as well. The detailed chemical composition of this raw material is therefore an important question. Five species of poplars were investigated: Populus alba, P. maximowiczii, P. trichocarpa, P. nigra, andP. tremula. Wood is a material consisting mainly of lignocellulose, but there are also many extractives. In temperate zone climate they typically represent up to 5% of wood mass. Their identification is difficult, due to various classes of compounds and great number of individual ones. These compounds can affect the properties of wood—its resistance to biotic agents and suitability to enzymatic treatment towards biofuels. Gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometer (GC-MS) was used to analysis of extractives in various species of poplar wood. Compounds from several classes were identified like phenols, fatty acids, and their derivatives, sterols. Their identification was discussed along with estimation of their content in wood of investigated species.

The Effects of Adding Heartwood Extractives from Acacia confusa on the Lightfastness Improvement of Refined Oriental Lacquer

“…Some special or high concentrations of extractives exist in a specific plant and can be used for diversity utilization. For example, phenolic compounds such as 4-vinylguaiacol, vanillin, 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, sterols, terpenoids, and fatty compounds are found in the poplar trees, which can be used to determine the influence of individual compounds on biochemical processes such as enzymatic hydrolysis [ 23 ] or alcoholic fermentation for using polar as an energy source of liquid biofuels [ 24 , 25 ]. The presence of proanthocyanidins on coniferous woods shows a higher antioxidant capacity [ 26 ].…”

11th Hardwood Conference Proceedings

“…The sapwood contains more sugars and starch, which may explain its higher water-soluble extractive content. Related scientific articles report an average extractive content of poplar species below 3 % (Osman et al 2013;Szadkowska et al 2021). Turkey oak has low extractive content corresponding to its low durability.…”

The Influence of Age on the Wood Properties of Paulownia tomentosa (Thunb.) Steud.

“…Paulownia tomentosa wood in Brazil, with growth that is 13 years old, has shown a higher extractive content (17.1%), which might mean that the amount of extractives will still increase after 5 years [17]. Non-polar extractives generally represent a small percentage of extractives in fast-growing trees, such, as for instance, poplars [18,19] Forests 2022, 13, x FOR PEER REVIEW 6 of 12 In Table 1, the results from the thermogravimetric analysis and elemental composition of 1-, 3-, and 5-year-old Paulownia trees are presented. Overall, the volatile content of the samples that are 1 and 3 years old are similar, while there is a slight increase in the volatile content for the 5-year-old samples.…”