Variation in the composition of wood extractives from Eucalyptus globulus during seasoning

Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), P.O. Box 1052, E-41080 Sevilla, Spain; Empresa Nacional de Celulosas (ENCE), Centro de Investigación, Ctra. Campañó, Ribeiro-Vao, E-36157 Pontevedra, Spain; E-mail address: [email protected]

The variation in the content of extractives from Eucalyptus globulus wood has been studied during a three-month seasoning experiment. The decrease in the total acetone extract (by over 56%) after seasoning is well correlated to a parallel reduction on the colloidal pitch measured in black liquors. The composition of lipophilic extractives during the seasoning period has been studied by gas chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Sterols, sterol esters, triglycerides, fatty acids and steroid ketones were the main lipophilic compounds among E. globulus wood extractives. Significative variations in the content of these compounds were observed during seasoning.

This research has been carried out with financial support from the Commission of the European Communities in the frame of the "Wood Extractives in Pulp and Paper Manufacture: Technical and Environmental Implications and Biological Removal" project (CT95-0560) of the Agriculture and Fisheries specific R&D programme (FAIR).

Peer reviewed