Pellets produceras av sågspån som är en restprodukt från sågverk. Tillverkningen av pellets är en energiintensiv process. Mest energi används för att torka det fuktiga sågspånet från ca 50 till ca 11 % fukthalt. Torkningen är inledningsvis effektiv men vid torkning av sågspån under 20 % fukthalt minskar torkningens energieffektivitet. Efter att det torkade sågspånet malts i en kvarn konditioneras det med överhettad ånga innan det pressas till pellets. Ångan värmer sågspånet vilket ger pelletsen bättre hållfasthet. Förutom att sågspånet blir varmt tillsätts också fukt. Genom att värma sågspånet utan att tillsätta fukt, och istället bara torka sågspånet till 15 % fukthalt kan därmed ineffektiv torkning undvikas och energi sparas. I den här studien har temperatur och fukthalt mätts på pelletsfabriken Stora Enso Timber AB i syfte att kartlägga tillförseln av fukt och energi i ångkonditioneringen. Detta har gett ett underlag för försök att tillverka pellets utan ånga, men med förvärmning av sågspånet innan det pressas till pellets. Målet med studien är att beräkna ångkonditioneringen och sågspånet fukt- och energitillförsel samt undersöka hur pelletsens hållfasthet påverkas om konditionering av sågspånet med överhettad ånga ersätts med förvärmning av sågspånet och tillsats av lignin. Resultatet av mätningarna och beräkningarna visar att energitillförseln i konditioneringen är 48 kWh per ton producerad pellets. Ungefär 10 % av ångan kondenserade inte i sågspånet och endast hälften av ångans energiinnehåll tillkom sågspånet efter konditioneringen. Att värma sågspån med ånga kan därför ifrågasättas. Pelletstillverkning med förvärmning av sågspånet gjordes i en försöksanläggning på Karlstads universitet. 7 test med olika koncentrationer av lignin och inställningar på förvärmning och ångtillförsel genomfördes. Resultatet visar att förvärmning av sågspånet ger högre hållfasthet än enbart ångkonditionering. Förvärmning tillsammans med högre fukthalt i sågspånet gav pelletsen ökad hållfasthet. Lignin gav inte högre hållfasthet, vilket motsäger tidigare forskning visat. / Wood fuel pellets is made of sawdust, which is a byproduct from sawmills. The production process is energy-intense and a large part of the energy is used in drying the moist sawdust from about 50 % to 11 % moisture content. Initially, the drying process is quite efficient, but when the sawdust reaches a moisture-content below 20 %, the efficiency of the process drops. The dried sawdust is grinded before superheated steam conditions it. The superheated steam warms the sawdust, which results in a more durable pellet, but also adds moisture to it. By warming the sawdust, without adding moisture, and producing pellets at 15 % moisture content, superheated steam production and inefficient drying can be avoided. In this study, the temperature and moisture content of the sawdust in the pellet plant Stora Enso Timber AB in Grums was measured with the aim to study the moisture and energy supply in the conditioning process. The aim is also to analyse how the mechanical durability of the pellet is affected if the superheated steam conditioning is replaced by preheating the sawdust and adding lignin. The results from the conditioning process shows that the energy use is 48 kWh per ton produced pellets. About 10 % of the steam did not condense in the sawdust and only half of the energy content of superheated steam is absorbed by the pellets. Therefore, heating sawdust with superheated steam can be questioned. Pellet production with pre-heated sawdust took place in a production unit at Karlstad's university. 7 tests were made with different concentration of lignin and settings for the pre-heater and steam supply. The result showed that pre-heating the sawdust before the pellet press gave a higher durability than only superheated steam conditioning. Pre-heating and high moisture content of the sawdust combined, gave higher pellet durability. Adding lignin did not increase the durability of the pellets, which previous research has shown.

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Side-chain ether groups in lignin model compounds of the general structure 1-(3$ sp prime$,4$ sp prime$-dimethoxyphenyl)-1,2-diaryloxyethane exhibited hydrolytic cleavage (the extent depending on the substituents on the 1-aryloxy groups) in aqueous 2N NaOH at 150$ sp circ$C (i.e. under wood pulping conditions). The level of hydrolysis increased in phenylpropane models (i.e. with $ gamma$-CH$ sb2$OH). Thus the commonly accepted generalization that 1,2-diethers of 3$ sp prime$,4$ sp prime$-dimethyoxyphenylpropane are stable in hot alkali is valid only for 1-alkoxy compounds. The newly observed hydrolytic cleavage is influenced by a combination of steric effects, electronic effects and solubility parameters. These observations now make it possible to consider alkaline delignification in the light of gel-degradation theory. / A series of compounds of the general structure 1-(3$ sp prime$-4$ sp prime$,dimethoxyphenyl)-1-aryl-2-guaiacyloxyethane, where the 1-aryl group bore a hydroxy substituent, also exhibited alkaline hydrolysis, at 150$ sp circ$C, at the $ beta$-carbon. The extent was greater when the 1-aryl group bore an $o$-OH than when it bore a $p$-OH. Thus, the reaction was assisted by the nucleophilic attack of the $o$-phenoxide anion on the $ beta$-carbon. / A relatively high release of guaiacol occurred on treatment of 1-(3$ sp prime$,4$ sp prime$-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-thio-2-guaiacyloxyethane with 2N NaOH at 150$ sp circ$C, and the yield of guaiacol was increased when the terminal sidechain carbon bore a $-$CH$ sb2$OH group. Analogous $ alpha$-thioaryl and $ alpha$-thioalkyl compounds also exhibited greater ether cleavage than their oxy counterparts. The hydrolysis of the $ beta$-guaiacyl group was also enhanced by the presence of $ alpha$-seleno-containing groups.

Changes in wood chemistry could have significant impact on both environmental and economic aspects of the pulp and paper industry. Consequently, a considerable amount of effort has been devoted to altering lignin content and/or modifing lignin monomer composition, a cell wall component whose removal is a major part of the chemical pulping process. Analysis of poplar transformed with a cinnamate 4-hydroxylase (C4H):ferulate5-hydroxylase (F5H) construct confirmed significant increases in the mole percent syringyl lignin in transgenic lines. Further, this study demonstrated significant increases in pulping efficiency from greenhouse grown transgenic trees. Compared to wild-type pulp, decreases of 23 kappa units (residual lignin) and increases of >20 ISO brightness units were observed in tree lines exhibiting high syringyl monomer concentrations (93.5% mol S). These changes were associated with no significant change in total lignin content or observed phenotypic differences in the trees. Additionally, pulp yields were not affected by the enhanced removal of lignin.. Furthermore, transgenic lines exhibit reduced fibre coarseness and increased cellulose viscosity. These results suggest that C4H-F5H transformed trees could be used to produce pulp for paper with substantially less severe delignification conditions (lower chemical loading or less energy), and that the pulp produced is of comparable quality to that of the wild-type poplar. Consequently, the ecological footprint left on the environment, measured by the amount of deleterious pulping by-products released into the environment may be significantly reduced.

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A general equation was derived for calculating the weight-average molecular weight of the sol fraction, after gelation, of crosslinked copolymers formed by condensation polymerisation; the equation includes those of Flory and Stockmayer as special cases. In qualitative agreement with a gel-degradation model based on the general equation, soluble degradation products from a polymer gel of well defined structure displayed a pattern of increasing molecular weight with increasing solubilisation; it was also observed that the second virial coefficient and the refractive index increment showed a particular form of variation with molecular weight. The gel-degradation model, applied to the known chemistry of the acid-sulfite delignification of wood, provided a good fit to the experimental points of the previously known topochemical effect. Studies on the preparation of polyether-gel synthons required a detailed review of phase-transfer-catalysed etherification reactions, and provided an explanation for the lower reactivity of (beta)-haloethers relative to alkyl halides.

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