ESTGV - DEM - Artigo em revista científica, indexada ao WoS/Scopus
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- Agro-industrial wastes as building insulation materials: A review and challenges for Euro-Mediterranean countriesPublication . Cintura, Eleonora; Nunes, Lina; Esteves, Bruno; Faria, PaulinaThis study investigates the possibility of using agro-industrial wastes for building products, mainly focusing on their insulation properties. A classification of bio-wastes is provided, namely of the lignocellulosic ones and their features and properties are described. Information about three main topics is collected: world production and consumption of some crops already used as building materials, their chemical composition and their most studied properties. Since the considered materials are lignocellulosic and they have many common features, a com- parison is made. The aim is to have comparable information to support future research related to the production of eco-efficient indoor insulation boards. The result of this research is the choice of four different agro-industrial wastes produced in the Euro-Mediterranean Countries. This area was chosen as buildings typically have little or no insulation due to the regional mild climate; however, particularly with climate change, indoor hygrothermal comfort is poor. The collection of information allows some conclusions to be reached about the different bio- wastes already studied and identify gaps in the literature.
- Artificial Weathering of Heat-treated Pines from the Iberian PeninsulaPublication . Esteves, Bruno; Herrera, René; Santos, Jorge; Carvalho, Luisa; Nunes, Lina; Ferreira, José; Domingos, Idalina; Cruz-Lopes, LuísaSamples from the two most common pines grown in Portugal (Pinus pinaster Ait) and Spain (Pinus radiata, D. Don) were heat-treated in industrial facilities in accordance with ThermoWood ® class D. For both species, the variation in surface properties, of untreated and heat-treated wood after artificial weathering from 75 to 750 h, is presented. The analysis included the determination of color, roughness, gloss, and wettability before exposure and after each artificial weathering period. Untreated woods became darker faster, while in heat-treated woods, lightness remained approximately constant until 750 h of artificial weathering. Both untreated and heat-treated wood became more reddish in the beginning of the weathering process, turning greener for longer exposure times. Untreated woods became yellower in the beginning, turning into blueish tones later. Heat-treated wood turned slightly yellower until 750 h of weathering. Gloss decreased for untreated wood with no significant changes in heat-treated wood. Despite the changes, the gloss of both untreated and heat-treated wood converged to similar values. Roughness increased for both untreated and heat-treated woods. Artificial weathering increased the wettability of heat-treated wood.
- Avaliação do ciclo de vida - resenha histórica e perspetiva futuraPublication . Ferreira, José; Esteves, Bruno; Cruz-Lopes, Luísa; Domingos, IdalinaIntroduction: This article presents a historical review and future perspective of life cycle assessment (LCA), as a tool for environmental assessment of products. The first LCA studies, called REPA (Resource and Environmental Profile Analysis), were carried out in the United States of America (USA) in the early 70s of the last century and had as main motivation the aspects related to the environmental implications and the consumption of resources used in the packaging production. It was not until the mid-1980s that these studies began to be carried out in Europe through the Swiss Federal Laboratory for Testing and Investigating Materials (EMPA). Development: In the 90's there was a notable growth in LCA activities in Europe and the USA, namely in terms of harmonization of LCA methods and standardization activities carried out, respectively, by SETAC (Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry) and ISO (International Organization for Standardization). As of the year 2000, countless international and regional organizations were created, with the objective of improving the credibility; acceptance and practice of LCA, as well as many computer tools (software and databases) were developed to support LCA studies. Conclusions: One of the main future challenges for LCA is its greater integration with other life cycle approaches, which have been emerged, as LCA studies have been increasingly well developed.
- Calorific Power Improvement of Wood by Heat Treatment and Its Relation to Chemical CompositionPublication . Domingos, Idalina; Ayata, Umit; Ferreira, José; Cruz-Lopes, Luísa; Sen, Ali; Sahin, Sirri; Esteves, BrunoChemical composition influences the calorific power of wood, mainly due to the calorific power of structural compounds and extractives. Heat treatment changes the chemical composition of treated wood. This work studies the relationship between chemical composition and calorific power improvement by heat treatment. Samples were heat-treated by the ThermoWood process ® for 1 h and 2 h. High heating value (HHV) and chemical composition; lignin, cellulose, hemicelluloses and extractives in dichloromethane, ethanol, and water were determined. The HHV of untreated wood ranged between 18.54–19.92 MJ/kg and increased with heat treatment for all the tested species. A positive linear correlation was found between HHV and Klason lignin (R2 = 0.60). A negative trend was observed for holocellulose, cellulose, and hemicelluloses content against HHV, but with low determination coefficients for linear regression. The best adjust for polysaccharides was found for hemicelluloses content. A positive correlation could be found for dichloromethane extractives (R2 = 0.04). The same was obtained in relation to ethanol extractives with R2 = 0.20. For water and total extractives, no clear positive or negative trends could be achieved. The results showed that the HHV of wood increased with heat treatment and that this increase was mainly due to the increase in lignin content.
- Changes in the content and composition of the extractives in thermally modified tropical hardwoodsPublication . Esteves, Bruno; Ayata, Umit; Cruz-Lopes, Luísa; Brás, Isabel; Ferreira, José; Domingos, IdalinaChemical composition of wood is known to change during thermal treatments. Two species grown in Turkey, afrormosia (Pericopsis elata) and duka (Tapirira guianensis) were heat treated according to Thermowood® method. Lignin, cellulose, hemicelluloses and extractives in dichloromethane, ethanol and water were determined. Wood extracts were analysed by gas chromatography with mass detection and existing compounds were identified by NIST17 database. Results show that hemicelluloses and cellulose content decreased for both heat-treated woods along the treatment while lignin percentage increased. The analysis of extractives has shown several compounds normally associated to lignin thermal degradation that increased along the treatment. At the same time several compounds associated to carbohydrate thermal degradation were found in all the extracts for both heat-treated woods. These founding have allowed the understanding of the degradation pattern of wood during thermal modification. There was not much difference between afrormosia and duka woods structural compounds behaviour along thermal modification. However, the variation of the amount of extractives along the treatment depended on the species.
- Chemical changes of heat treated pine and eucalypt wood monitored by FTIRPublication . Esteves, B.; Velez Marques, A.; Domingos, I.; Pereira, H.A hardwood, Eucalyptus globulus Labill., and a softwood Pinus pinaster Aiton., were heat treated at temperatures between 170 and 210ºC in an oven and in an autoclave. The samples were pre-extracted with dichloromethane, ethanol and water and ground prior to Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic analysis. The heat treatment caused significant changes in the chemical composition and structure of wood, in lignin and polysaccharides. Hemicelluloses were the first to degrade as proved by the initial decrease of the 1730 cm-1 peak due to the breaking of acetyl groups in xylan. Hardwood lignin changed more than softwood lignin, with a shift of maximum absorption from 1505 cm-1 to approximately 1512 cm-1 due to decrease of methoxyl groups, loss of syringyl units or breaking of aliphatic side-chains. The macromolecular structure becomes more condensed and there is a clear increase of non-conjugated (1740 cm-1) in relation to conjugated groups (1650 cm-1). However, the changes induced by the thermal treatment are difficult to monitor by FTIR spectroscopy due to the different chemical reactions occurring simultaneously.
- Chemical characterization, bioactive and fuel properties of waste cork and phloem fractions from Quercus cerris L. barkPublication . Sen, Ali; Miranda, Isabel; Esteves, Bruno; Pereira, HelenaWaste biomass composed of cork-rich and phloem-rich granules obtained from the fractioning of Quercus cerris L. bark were characterized for bulk density, chemical composition, bio-active components, ash composition, and higher heating value. Bulk density of the fractions relate to their cork content and deceases with smaller particle size due to a cork enrichment in the finer particles. The bulk density may therefore be used as an indicator of suberin content of waste cork and phloem fractions. Waste cork fractions are rich sources of lipophilic and polar extracts while waste phloem fractions contain high amount of polar extracts. The polar extracts of both biomass fractions showed very high antioxidant capacities with IC50 values between 2.5 and 7.3 μg extract mL-1 for cork fractions and 5.8 and 11.7 μg extract mL-1 for phloem fractions. Higher heating values in waste cork fractions increase with decreasing particle size and ranged between 20 and 22 MJ kg-1. A biorefinery scheme was developed for the valorization of the waste cork and phloem fractions based on their physical, chemical, bioactive, and higher heating values
- Chemical Composition and Optimization of Liquefaction Parameters of Cytisus scoparius (Broom)Publication . Cruz-Lopes, Luísa; Almeida, Daniela; Dulyanska, Yuliya; Domingos, Idalina; Ferreira, José; Fragata, Anabela; Esteves, BrunoInvasive plants spread in such a way that they are threats to native species and to biodiversity. In this context, this work aims to determine possible valorizations of Scotch Broom Cytisus scoparius (L.) Link. This species harvested in the Viseu region was used in the present study. The eco-valorization of these renewable resources was made by conversion into liquid mixtures that can later be used in the manufacture of valuable products. For a better understanding of the results obtained, a chemical characterization of the Cytisus scoparius branches (CsB) was made. The ash content, extractives in dichloromethane, ethanol and water, lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose of the initial material were determined. Liquefaction was made in a reactor with different granulometry, temperatures and time. Results show that Broom is mainly composed of cellulose (36.1%), hemicelluloses (18.6%) and lignin (14.6%) with extractives mainly soluble in ethanol, followed by water and a small amount in dichloromethane. Ashes were around 0.69%, mainly composed of potassium and calcium. Generally, smaller size, higher solvent ratio, higher temperature and higher time of liquefaction lead to higher liquefaction. The highest percentage of liquefaction was 95% which is better than most of the lignocellulosic materials tested before.
- Chemical composition and study on liquefaction optimization of chestnut shellsPublication . Cruz-Lopes, Luísa; Domingos, Idalina; Ferreira, José; Esteves, BrunoChestnut shell (CS) is a by-product of some food sector companies. The aim of this study was to test the suitability of this material to be liquefied with polyalco- hols, optimizing the main liquefaction parameters in order to use the liquefied material for the production of high added value products. As the chemical composition of the fruit shell depends on the variation in the soil, cli- mate, and species, the chemical composition of CS was determined. Liquefaction was performed with 50:50 ethy- leneglycol:glycerol catalyzed by sulfuric acid. Different tests were carried out and several parameters were tested: par- ticle size, temperature 130–190°C, and time 15–120min. Chemical composition of CSs was determined. The main component found was lignin with 47.0%, which is higher than α-cellulose with around 20.5%, hemicelluloses 15.2%, and extractives in ethanol 8.8%. For the tested parameters, the best liquefaction yield was obtained at 190°C, 30 min, and a 40–60 particle size.
- Chemical effects of a mild torrefaction on the wood of eight Eucalyptus speciesPublication . Araújo, Solange de Oliveira; Neiva, Duarte M.; Gominho, Jorge; Esteves, Bruno; Pereira, HelenaThe torrefaction is a thermal pre-treatment to improve biomass quality for biofuel applications. In this study, the effects of a mild torrefaction (T) on eight euca- lypt species ( Eucalyptus botryoides, E. globulus, E. grandis, E. maculata, E. propinqua, E. rudis, E. saligna and E. vimi- nalis ) have been compared. Namely, the mass loss (ML), the equilibrium moisture content (EMC), density and chemical composition were determined and FTIR spectra were recorded of the initial and torrefied woods (TWs). The average ML was 11% and the heat-treated woods had an overall 10% density decrement. All the TW had 50% lower EMC compared to untreated wood samples (W). Elemen- tal composition showed that carbon content increased from 48% to 53% and the oxygen/carbon ratio decreased from 0.80 to 0.65. The chemical changes induced by T included an increment of extractives, a 20% higher lignin content and a 16% lower holocellulose content in relation to W. The hemicelluloses modification is manifested by a decrease of xylose, galactose, and acetyl groups in TWs. The fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra of the different wood species were very similar, and reflected in a uniform manner the chemical changes upon T. Because of the similar reaction of the eucalypt species, they can also be used in form of mixed eucalypt feedstock as biofuel.