Cellulose Chemistry and Technology

Title
Thermal behaviour/treatment of some vegetable residues. IV. Thermal decomposition of Eucalyptus wood
Authors
Cornelia Vasile Carmen-Mihaela Popescu Maria-Cristina Popescu Mihai Brebu and Stefan Willfor

Received September 21, 2009
Published Volume 45 Issue 1-2 January-February
Keywords lignocellulosic biomass resources, liquid biofuels, chemicals from biomass, lignin-to-liquid

Abstract
Wood-based biorefineries are focussed on providing ethanol from the carbohydrate fraction of biomass, which generates large amounts of lignin as a major by-product. The thermo-chemical conversion of such residual lignin materials to low molecular mass oil by solvolysis in a formic acid/alcohol reaction medium has been further investigated to provide access to value-added products. Subsequent optimisation attempts showed that the amount of the in situ hydrogen source (formic acid) can be reduced in relation to lignin, with small effects on the yield of the product oil. The impact of other experimental factors has been explored, their influence on the phase separation properties and the proportion of phenols related to hydrocarbons in the produced oil have been evaluated. The work shows that further reduction in solvent use will be possible, thus paving the way for more efficient production of oxygen-depleted bio-oils: suitable liquid transport fuel components from solid lignin.