SANTOS, A. ; SIMÕES, R. ; ANJOS, O. (2008) - Influence of wood basic density on acacia melanoxylon kraft process. In European Workshop on Lignocellulosics and Pulp, Stockholm - Proceedings book. Sctockholm : KTH, Royal Institute of Technology. p. 388-391.
Title
Influence of wood basic density on acacia melanoxylon kraft process
Subject
Acacia melanoxylon Basic density Fiber Kappa number Industrial utilization
Date
2013-12-19T16:21:26Z 2013-12-19T16:21:26Z 2008
Description
Wood density is a complex physical property related to the anatomical structure and the chemical composition of
wood and one of the most important wood quality factors. Sampling was based on a total of 20 trees from four
sites in Portugal that were harvested at a sawmill diameter class of 40 cm and wood discs taken at different
height levels from the base to the top of the tree.
The mean basic density of the Acacia melanoxylon trees measured at 5% height level (near breast height level)
was 516 kg/m3 with a 34 kg/m3 standard deviation. The within-tree axial variation of density was of small
magnitude, but showing higher values at the stem base and top. Site had no influence on the basic density of the
wood. Overall the between tree variation of density was small possibly linked to the narrow genetic diversity of
this introduced exotic species. In the Kraft process we can observe variability between stands and an increase of
the pulp yield, and fiber width and length with the higher level in the tree. The wood basic density is well
correlated with the ISO brightness and well correlated in inverse order with the pulp Yield and fiber width and
length. The kappa number don’t present a great variation with the wood basic density.