Fundamental characteristics of microwave explosion pretreatment of wood I. Properties of temperature development

Abstract

In this study, the effects of microwave radiation intensity, radiation time and initial wood moisture content (MC) on the properties of temperature development in Eucalyptus urophylla wood samples during the microwave explosion pretreatment have been investigated using a new microwave pretreatment equipment. The results show that 1) with the increase of microwave radiation intensity and a decrease in initial wood MC, both the average temperature and its rate of increase in wood rise rapidly; 2) with an increase in microwave radiation time, the average temperature of wood clearly increases, while the rate of increase in temperature shows a decline. In the microwave explosion pretreatment, the temperature development curve presented two patterns of variation: i) a sharp increase in temperature — a constant temperature — a slow warm-up and ii) a sharp increase in temperature — a rapid decline in temperature — a slow warm-up.