Effects of hot water extraction pretreatment on physicochemical changes of Douglas fir

• The influences of HWE processing conditions on Douglas fir were studied systematically.
• Hemicellulose extraction yield (HEY) changed from 19.29 to 70.81%.
• A second-order polynomial model (R2 value = 0.89) was obtained to predict the HEY.
• Pretreatment conditions drastically affected the physicochemical properties of wood.

Hot water extraction (HWE) is an autocatalytic pretreatment that can be effectively integrated into most of the conversion technologies for extracting hemicelluloses from woody biomass. The objective of this study was to understand the influence of pretreatment factors on removal of hemicelluloses from Douglas fir chips. Compositional change in biomass was analyzed with ion chromatography and further confirmed with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). Highest hemicellulose extraction yield (HEY) was estimated to be 67.44% at the optimum reaction time (79 min) and temperature (180 °C) by using response surface methodology (RSM). Experimental results show that the HEY increased from 19.29 to 70.81% depending on the reaction time (30–120 min) and the temperature (140–180 °C). Effects of the severity factor (SF) on the mass removal and compositional changes were also evaluated. Hygroscopicity and thermal stability of wood were improved after HWE pretreatment. Colorimetric analysis showed that temperature has a greater influence on color of the wood chips during HWE pretreatment than dwell time. HWE pretreatment shows great potential for extracting hemicelluloses and altering physicochemical properties of wood in an integrated biorefinery for diversification of product portfolio.