Chemical Structure of Wood Charcoal by Infrared Spectroscopy and Multivariate Analysis

Submitted by Erin Rasmussen on

Publication Type:

Journal Article

Authors:

Labbe, Nicole; Harper, David; Rials, Timothy; Elder, Thomas

Source:

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Volume 54, Number 10, p.3492-3497 (2006)

URL:

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf053062n

Abstract:

In this work, the effect of temperature on charcoal structure and chemical composition is investigated for four tree species. Wood charcoal carbonized at various temperatures is analyzed by mid infrared spectroscopy coupled with multivariate analysis and by thermogravimetric analysis to characterize the chemical composition during the carbonization process. The multivariate models of charcoal were able to distinguish between species and wood thermal treatments, revealing that the characteristics of the wood charcoal depend not only on the wood species, but also on the carbonization temperature. This work demonstrates the potential of mid infrared spectroscopy in the whiskey industry, from the identification and classification of the wood species for the mellowing process to the chemical characterization of the barrels after the toasting and charring process. Keywords: Wood charcoal; chemical composition; infrared spectroscopy; multivariate analysis; principal component analysis; projection to latent structures; white oak; red maple; sugar maple; silver maple; whiskey; maturation; mellowing process; toasting and charring process