Title
Basic chemical composition of wood as a parameter in raw material selection for biocomposite production
Authors
NIKOLA SPANIC VLADIMIR JAMBREKOVIC and MILJENKO KLARIC

Received November 3, 2016
Published Volume 52 Issue 3-4 March-April
Keywords wood, chemical composition, biocomposite materials, ash, extractives, lignin, cellulose, alpha-cellulose, raw material selection

Abstract
In order to determine the significance of wood basic chemical composition in the selection of a raw material for biocomposite production, in this paper, the contents of ash, extractives, lignin, cellulose and alpha-cellulose of 20 temperate zone wood species have been determined. The results were discussed starting from the assumption that a biocomposite material would be produced entirely from a single wood species. More precisely, to achieve the composite material, wood cellulose would be used for the synthesis of a polymeric matrix (e.g. cellulose acetate), which would be then filled with various types of fillers prepared from the same wood species. As the wood used for producing such composite materials should have a specific chemical composition, the examined wood species were ranked as a function of their cellulose and alpha-cellulose contents. Thus, the species with the highest cellulose and alpha-cellulose contents, alongside the lowest lignin and extractives contents, were determined as the most suitable. The obtained results showed that white willow (Salix alba L.), which is a somewhat underutilized wood species, had the most favourable ratio of the determined chemical constituents, indicating that it is the most suitable for manufacturing biocomposite materials.