Pre-Drying Eucalyptus Saligna for Carbonization

The growing search for forms of clean renewable energy has placed wood charcoal as a possible alternative to coal in the Brazilian steel industry. The carbonization of Eucalyptus Saligna is an important step in the production of charcoal. The aim of this study is to analyze the behavior of the endothermic and exothermic reactions involved in the carbonization process. The carbonization of logs of Eucalyptus Saligna has been performed in a stainless steel reactor at different temperatures (300 ° C, 400 ° C and 500 ° C) and the results were compared with the ones obtained through thermal analysis (TG / DSC) of small samples (36 mg and 54 mg) of the same wood. The TG/DSC results indicated that the process presents both endothermic and exothermic features, at different ranges of temperature and time, in connection with the degradation of the three major macromolecules contained in the wood: cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin.