Wood from Eucalyptus genus is an important raw material for pulp and cellulose derivatives production. With the aim to understand the differences and the further use for production of cellulose derivatives, eight six-year-old Eucalyptus species were sampled and analyzed for anatomical, chemical and infrared spectroscopic and TGA characterization. The species studied corresponded to E. badjensis, E. benthamii, E. dunnii, E. globulus, E. nitens, E. smithii and two hybrids of E. nitens x E. globulus (coded x64 and x65). Wood density values ranged from 419.9 – 484.0 kg/m3, with E. globulus and E. smithii with the higher wood density trees, and E. badjensis with the lower one. Fiber length ranged from 0.60 – 0.70 mm, being E. globulus, E. smithii and EnxEg (x65) the higher values, while E. badjensis showed the lower fiber length. Chemical characteristics of the different Eucalyptus species are shown in table 2. The higher extractives content was obtained for E. benthamii (6.7%) and the lower for E. globulus (1.5%). E. globulus also showed the lower lignin content (23.2%) and the higher holocellulose content (73.5%). While the higher lignin content was obtained for E. benthamii (27.7%) and the lower holocellulose content for E. benthamii and E. dunnii. About alpha-cellulose isolation, the higher content obtained was a 55.5% in E. dunnii, while the lower content was observed in E. badjensis (48.5%). FTIR spectra were obtained for wood, holocellulose and alpha-cellulose samples from the eight Eucalyptus species studied. The ratio between the bands at 1372 cm-1 and 2900 cm-1 was considered as total crystalline index (TCI), and the ratio between the bands at 1429 cm-1 and 897 cm-1 was used as a lateral order index (LOI), which is defined as an empirical crystallinity index. The TCI is proportional to the crystallinity degree of cellulose and LOI is correlated to the overall degree of order in cellulose. For wood samples, the higher TCI ratio was obtained for E. dunnii (0.394), while the lower value was for E. nitens (0.292). The higher LOI was obtained for E. badjensis (2.698) and the lower for E. nitens (1.013). TGA data are under analysis. The Eucalyptus species showed different variation patterns for the structural features of cellulose, which could be attributed to chemical and structural properties of the inherent properties of wood components from each species.

Characterization of wood and cellulose from different eucalytpus species

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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