Intensification of hemicellulose hot-water extraction from spruce wood in a batch extractor – Effects of wood particle size

The effect of five different wood particle size fractions between 0.5 and 12.5 mm on hot-water extraction of acetylated water-soluble hemicelluloses from spruce wood with a batch extraction setup at 170 °C was investigated. Extraction kinetics, with regard to particle size, was also studied. The purpose was to intensify the hemicellulose extraction for high molar mass hemicelluloses at high yield and purity. About 30% of the wood was dissolved and basically all the hemicelluloses could be extracted. The average molar masses of the extracted hemicelluloses decreased rapidly during the first 10 min of the extraction, but were not much affected by the difference in wood particle sizes. Smaller particles resulted in higher extraction rates. The reaction order was established to be of pseudo-first order for particles above 2 mm and 1.5st order for particles smaller than 2 mm. The effective diffusion coefficient was determined to be 9.11 × 10−10 m2/s.