Alternative methodology for determining water content in wood biomass

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Abstract

The need for ever faster and more efficient instruments, techniques and methods to assist in industrial decision-making has been a major challenge for industry, given growing production requirements and economic demands. In the biomass sector, the purchase, receipt and storage of batches requires increasingly efficient, fast and accurate instruments. The aim was to develop a rapid methodology for determining the water content of woodchip (eucalyptus or native wood) and sawdust samples using microwave ovens. When the water content values for woodchip and sawdust samples exposed to microwaves and forced-air ovens were compared, the results were similar, which indicates the reliability of the microwave method in relation to the results of the standard oven method. Samples with higher initial water content require a greater number of exposures in microwave ovens to reach mass stabilization for all the materials evaluated. Therefore, from this research, we can conclude that the microwave oven method guarantees results that are as reliable as those obtained using the standard forced-air oven method.

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