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Thermochemical conversion of wood in levulinic acid and application in the preparation of wood coatings

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Abstract

In this work, levulinic acid (LLA) was used as a new bio-based solvent for solvolysis liquefaction of wood under mild conditions (temperature 160 ± 5 °C and atmospheric pressure). The liquefaction of sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) wood at a high rate (up to 93%) was obtained under these conditions. The liquefied product was divided into water-insoluble (WILW) and water-soluble (LArF) fractions. LArFs were mixtures of low-molecular weight compounds including unreacted LLA and furfuryl alcohol, as shown by electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI–MS) analysis. WILW has shown a high acid number (205–211 mg KOH/g) and a low hydroxyl number (< 23 mg KOH/g), which is in contrast with the conventional hydroxylated liquefied products reported in the literature so far. WILW was cured with LArF, a glycerol-liquefied wood, hexamine, and methylene diphenyl diisocyanate for the preparation of wood coatings. Cured coatings showed good pull-off adhesion strengths to the surface of beech wood, resistance to water, and low ΔE* color change when exposed to ultra-violet (UV) light. Liquefying wood in LLA provides a reactive product containing carboxylic acid groups that could be used to produce cleaner, petroleum-free materials.

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Funding

This research was funded by the Slovenian National Research Agency (ARRS) (“SilWoodCoat” N4-0117 and “Wood and lignocellulosic composites” P4-0015).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biotechnical Faculty, Department of Wood Science and Technology, University of Ljubljana, Jamnikarjeva Ulica 101, SI-1000 , Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Arnaud Maxime Cheumani Yona, Jure Žigon, Matjaž Pavlic, Sebastian Dahle & Marko Petrič

  2. Macromolecular Research Team, Faculty of Science, University of Yaoundé 1, P.O. 812, Yaoundé, Cameroon

    Arnaud Maxime Cheumani Yona & Alexis Ngueteu Kamlo

  3. Center for Mass Spectrometry, Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, SI-1000 , Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Dušan Žigon

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  1. Arnaud Maxime Cheumani Yona
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Contributions

AMCY: Conceptualization and methodology, analysis and data curation, writing—original draft, funding acquisition. DŽ: Analyses and interpretation of the data, writing—original draft. JŽ: Analyses, writing—original draft. AGK: Writing—review and editing original draft. MPa: Writing—review and editing original draft. SD: Writing—review and editing original draft. MPe: Supervision, funding acquisition, writing—original draft.

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Correspondence to Arnaud Maxime Cheumani Yona.

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Cheumani Yona, A.M., Žigon, D., Žigon, J. et al. Thermochemical conversion of wood in levulinic acid and application in the preparation of wood coatings. Biomass Conv. Bioref. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-023-03858-x

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