Spruce (Piceaabies) wood hemicelluloses have been obtained by the noncatalytic and catalytic oxidative delignification in the acetic acid-water-hydrogen peroxide medium in a processing time of 3–4 h and temperatures of 90–100 °C. In the catalytic process, the H₂SO₄, MnSO₄, TiO₂, and (NH₄)₆Mo₇O₂₄ catalysts have been used. A polysaccharide yield of up to 11.7 wt% has been found. The hemicellulose composition and structure have been studied by a complex of physicochemical methods, including gas and gel permeation chromatography, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis. The galactose:mannose:glucose:arabinose:xylose monomeric units in a ratio of 5:3:2:1:1 have been identified in the hemicelluloses by gas chromatography. Using gel permeation chromatography, the weight average molar mass M_w of hemicelluloses has been found to attain 47,654 g/mol in noncatalytic delignification and up to 42,793 g/mol in catalytic delignification. Based on the same technique, a method for determining the α and k parameters of the Mark–Kuhn–Houwink equation for hemicelluloses has been developed; it has been established that these parameters change between 0.33–1.01 and 1.57–472.17, respectively, depending on the catalyst concentration and process temperature and time. Moreover, the FTIR spectra of the hemicellulose samples contain all the bands characteristic of heteropolysaccharides, specifically, 1069 cm⁻¹ (C–O–C and C–O–H), 1738 cm⁻¹ (ester C=O), 1375 cm⁻¹ (–C–CH₃), 1243 cm⁻¹ (–C–O–), etc. It has been determined by the thermogravimetric analysis that the hemicelluloses isolated from spruce wood are resistant to heating to temperatures of up to ~100 °C and, upon further heating, start destructing at an increasing rate. The antioxidant activity of the hemicelluloses has been examined using the compounds simulating the 2,2-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl free radicals.

We report on the kinetics of pyrolysis of bark wood of four coniferous tree species: fir (Abies sibirica), larch (Larix sibirica), spruce (Picea obovata), and cedar (Pinus sibirica) denoted as FB, LB, SB, and CB, respectively. Thermogravimetry (TG) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) methods were used to study the influence of KCl and K₃PO₄ compounds on the process of thermal decomposition of fir bark and determine the main thermal effects accompanying this process. As a result of the studies carried out, it was found that KCl additives practically do not affect the decomposition of hemicelluloses, but they shift the maximum decomposition of the cellulose peak in the direction of decreasing temperature to 340.9 °C compared to untreated bark (357.5 °C). K₃PO₄ promotes the simultaneous decomposition of hemicelluloses and cellulose in the temperature range with a maximum of 277.8 °C. In both cases, the additions of KCl and K₃PO₄ reduce the maximum rate of weight loss, which leads to a higher yield of carbon residues: the yield of char from the original fir bark is 28.2%, in the presence of K₃PO₄ and KCl it is 52.6 and 65.0%, respectively. Using the thermogravimetric analysis in the inert atmosphere, the reaction mechanism has been established within the Criado model. It is shown that the LB, SB, and CB thermal decomposition can be described by a two-dimensional diffusion reaction (D2) in a wide range (up to 0.5) of conversion values followed by the reactions with orders of three (R3). The thermal decomposition of the FB occurs somewhat differently. The diffusion mechanism (D2) of the FB thermal decomposition continues until a conversion value of 0.6. As the temperature increases, the degradation of the FB sample tends to R3. It has been found by the thermogravimetric analysis that the higher cellulose content prevents the degradation of wood. The bark wood pyrolysis activation energy has been calculated within the Coats–Redfern and Arrhenius models. The activation energies obtained within these models agree well and can be used to understand the complexity of biomass decomposition.

A new approach is being considered for obtaining microfibrillated cellulose with a low degree of polymerization by sulfuric acid hydrolysis with simultaneous ultrasonic treatment under mild conditions (temperature 25 °C, 80% power control). Samples of initial cellulose, MCC, and MFC were characterized by FTIR, XRF, SEM, DLS, and TGA. It was found that a high yield of MFC (86.4 wt.%) and a low SP (94) are observed during hydrolysis with ultrasonic treatment for 90 min. It was shown that the resulting microfibrillated cellulose retains the structure of cellulose I and has an IC of 0.74. It was found that MFC particles are a network of fibrils with an average size of 91.2 nm. ζ-potential of an aqueous suspension of MFC equal to −23.3 mV indicates its high stability. It is noted that MFC has high thermal stability, the maximum decomposition temperature is 333.9 °C. Simultaneous hydrolysis process with ultrasonic treatment to isolate MFC from cellulose obtained by oxidative delignification of spruce wood allows to reduce the number of stages, reduce energy costs, and expand the scope.

Hydrogenation of flax shives in ethanol over bifunctional Ni/C catalysts at 225 °C has been studied. It has been shown that the 10% Ni/C catalyst enhances the yield of monomeric products from 1.1 to 9.7 wt %, decreases the solid product content from 45 to 35 wt %, and increases the degree of delignification to 91%. The main monomeric compounds obtained during hydrogenation are propyl guaiacol and propenyl guaiacol. It has been established that an increase in the mass transfer intensity via increasing the stirring rate or decreasing the catalyst grain size leads to an increase in the total yield of monomeric compounds and the propanol guaiacol yield. Alkaline and acid pretreatment increases the cellulose content in the solid product from 42 to 73 wt %. The proposed sequential scheme of the transformation and formation of monomeric products over the bifunctional nickel catalyst is lignin—coniferyl alcohol—4-propanol guaiacol—4-propenyl guaiacol—4-propyl guaiacol.

A new method for extractive-catalytic fractionation of aspen wood to produce microcrystalline (MCC), microfibrillated (MFC), nanofibrilllated (NFC) celluloses, xylan, and ethanollignin is suggested in order to utilize all of the main components of wood biomass. Xylan is obtained with a yield of 10.2 wt.% via aqueous alkali extraction at room temperature. Ethanollignin was obtained with a yield of 11.2 wt.% via extraction with 60% ethanol from the xylan-free wood at 190 °C. The lignocellulose residue formed after the extraction of xylan and ethanollignin was subjected to catalytic peroxide delignification in the acetic acid-water medium at 100 °C in order to obtain microcrystalline cellulose. MCC is hydrolyzed with 56% sulfuric acid and treated with ultrasound to produce microfibrillated cellulose and nanofibrillated cellulose. The yields of MFC and NFC were 14.4 and 19.0 wt.%, respectively. The average hydrodynamic diameter of NFC particles was 36.6 nm, the crystallinity index was 0.86, and the average zeta-potential was 41.5 mV. The composition and structure of xylan, ethanollignin, cellulose product, MCC, MFC, and NFC obtained from aspen wood were characterized using elemental and chemical analysis, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses, Gas chromatography (GC), Gel permeation-chromatography (GPC), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Atomic force microscopy (AFM), Dynamic light scattering (DLS), Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA).

The known methods to obtain microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) from wood raw material is multi-stage and it is based on the integration of environmentally hazardous processes of pulping, bleaching and acid hydrolysis of cellulose amorphous part. The paper describes a one-stage catalytic method to obtain microcrystalline cellulose from pine wood based on peroxide delignification in acetic acid-water in the presence of a catalyst H2SO4. The optimal parameters of the process of pine wood peroxide delignification in the presence of 2% H2SO4 catalyst were determined by experimental and numerical methods: temperature – 100 °C, concentration H2O2 – 5 wt.%, CH3COOH – 25 wt.%, LWR 15, duration – 4 h. They provide a high yield of cellulose (45.2 wt.%) with a low content of residual lignin (1.0 wt%).The kinetic study of pine wood peroxide delignification at the temperature range 70-100 ºC was accomplished. The delignification process is described satisfactory by the first order equation in all temperature range. The rate constants vary between 0.08·10-4 and 2.15·10-4 s-1 and the activation energy is 90 kJmol-1. It was established by FTIR and XRD methods, that the cellulose, obtained from pine wood has the composition and structure similar to the commercial microcrystalline cellulose.