DETERMINATION OF WOOD BASIC DENSITY BY FOURIER-TRANSFORM RAMAN-SPECTROSCOPY

The feasibility of using FT-Raman spectroscopy for rapid determination of wood basic density was examined for two Eucalyptus species, includ ing samples of various ages and colors, which are of importance as a p lantation source. Wood basic density is an important indicator of wood physical properties, pulp properties and pulpwood productivity. Measu rement included basic density (BD), extractives-free (EF) ED, alkali-e xtractives-free (AF) ED, total-extractives-free (TF) ED and extraneous compounds-free (ECF) ED were measured. The application of 2nd derivat ives transformation to Raman spectroscopic data revealed highly signif icant correlations between measured and Raman predicted values for ED, EF-BD, AF-BD, TF-BD and ECF-BD with standard error of prediction(SEP) is approximately equal to 8, 45, 22, 37 and 49 kg/m(3) in the calibra tion (for known samples) and SEP is approximately equal to 28, 38, 40, 29 and 40 kg/m(3) in the prediction (for unknown samples), respective ly. Consequently, this method has proved its validity for analyzing Eu calyptus native wood meal samples, regardless of their age and color, to determine basic density. FT-Raman spectroscopy can be used for (1) the measurement of physical properties of forest products, and (2) eli te tree selection to improve both quality and productivity, reducing t he cost of pulp and paper products and our reliance on natural forests .