CORRELATIONS BETWEEN AGE, WOOD QUALITY AND CHARCOAL QUALITY OF EUCALYPTUS CLONES

Ana Flávia Neves Mendes Castro,Angélica De Cássia Oliveira Carneiro,Ana Marcia Macedo Ladeira Carvalho,Renato Vinícius Oliveira Castro,Rosimeire Cavalcante Dos Santos,Paulo Fernando Trugilho,Isabel Cristina Nogueira Alves De Melo

doi:10.1590/0100-67622016000300019

Abstract

ABSTRACT Brazil is world's greater producer of charcoal, and the Brazilian state Minas Gerais presents the greater production of said product. The wood proprieties influence the charcoal quality, making important to know them, it is known that these proprieties vary according to the age of the tree. With that being said, this research aimed to determine the correlations existing between age, the proprieties of the wood and charcoal proprieties. Three Eucalyptus sp. clones from Gerdau S/A were evaluated, at four ages, 3, 4, 5 and 7. From each tree, five discs were removed (0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% corresponding to the commercial height of the trunk). We determined the core/sapwood relationship, basic density, chemical composition of the wood, the calorific value of the wood and of the charcoal, the gravimetric yields, apparent relative density and charcoal chemical analysis, in addition to the analysis of the condensable and non-condensable gases. Correlations between age, proprieties of the wood and charcoal were performed. It was observed a negative correlation between the age of the wood and charcoal ashes content, regardless the clones evaluated. A positive correlation between the basic density of the wood and the apparent density of the coal and a positive correlation between the lignin of wood content and the coal apparent density were observed, as well. The siringil/guaiacil relation, which determines the quantity of each type of lignin existent on the wood, presented a negative correlation with the gravimetric yields in charcoal. Therefore, it is concluded that the age of the tree influenced the proprieties of the wood, regardless the clone; the age of the genetic material did not influence the gravimetric yield in charcoal; the GG 680 clone presented greater potential to produce charcoal, considering only the proprieties of the wood.

Highlights

Since the beginning of the 19th century, Brazil is considered world’s greater producer of charcoal, used mostly on the steel industry, on the production of pig iron, ferroalloys and steel (REZENDE; SANTOS, 2010)
It is concluded that the age of the tree influenced the proprieties of the wood, regardless the clone; the age of the genetic material did not influence the gravimetric yield in charcoal; the GG 680 clone presented greater potential to produce charcoal, considering only the proprieties of the wood
Three Eucalyptus sp. clones used for this research (Table 1) were at the ages of 3, 4, 5 and 7, and the clones were from the commercial plantations belonging to the Gerdau S.A., located in Lassance, Minas Gerais, Table 1 – Identification of the genetic material used

Summary

Introduction

Since the beginning of the 19th century, Brazil is considered world’s greater producer of charcoal, used mostly on the steel industry, on the production of pig iron, ferroalloys and steel (REZENDE; SANTOS, 2010). In 2010, the national economy recovered, some sectors, such as the pig iron industry, remained in crisis (ABRAF, 2011). Until the end of 2010, there was an elevated index of idle production of pig iron using charcoal, since the annual production was 1/3 of the full capacity and only 56,0% of the furnaces worked (ABRAF, 2011). It is expected a recovering of this sector, since the scenery seems to the positive in medium and long term for the forestry sector, due, mostly, the environmental advantages

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