New method to find out the volatile organic compounds (VOC) of wooden material

IRG/WP 00-20189

H Viitanen, K Villberg, K Saarela

Volatile organic compounds (VOC) of pine, spruce and larch wood were studied using a new technique developed at VTT Chemical Technology. 50 mg of crushed wood material was placed into glass tubes. The tubes were closed with a glass wool, which is pressed with a tube cap. Wood samples were analysed with a gas chromatograph after thermal desorption using four different temperatures (50°C, 100°C, 150°C and 200°C). The gas chromatograph is equipped with a flame ionisation detector (FID) and a mass selective detector (MSD). Green sapwood and heartwood of pine and spruce was studied. For larch wood, fresh and dried heartwood material was analysed. The quality and quantity of volatile organic compounds were quite different in pine sap and heartwood. The amount of total volatile organic compounds (TVOC) was at least five times higher in pine heartwood than TVOC in pine sapwood. The dominating compounds in pine sapwood were carbonyl compounds and in pine heartwood mainly terpenes. Within spruce material, the wide difference between sap and heartwood was not found. In larch wood, the volatile organic compounds was quite different compared with pine and spruce. In larch heartwood, the amount of terpenes was much lower than in pine heartwood but in pine and spruce, no acetic acid was found. The technique can be used for rapid analyse of the quality of wood. The result can be used for reference of decay tests and other properties of wood species.


Keywords: VOC; ANALYSE METHOD; GC/MSD; LARCH; PINE; SPRUCE; TERPENES

Conference: 00-05-14/19 Kona, Hawaii, USA


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