Production of alkanes (C(7)-C(29)) from different part of poplar tree via direct deoxy-liquefaction
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Updated: Jun 27, 2026

Transcript and Metabolite Profiling for the Evaluation of Tobacco Tree and Poplar as Feedstock for the Bio-based Industry
Published on: May 16, 2014
Libin Wu1, Shipeng Guo, Chao Wang
1Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
Abstract:
Poplar leaves, poplar bark and poplar wood were deoxy-liquefied directly in an air-proof stainless steel reactor at different temperatures. The oils from leaves at 350 degrees C, from bark at 400 degrees C and from wood at 450 degrees C, at which the liquid product yields were the maximum, were analyzed by GC-MS. The oils obtained from three parts of poplar tree were quite different from each other in the relative contents of their compositions. The oil from leaves was rich in hydrocarbons (alkanes: C(7)-C(29); aromatics) and poor in phenolics, while oil from wood was rich in phenolics and poor in hydrocarbons. The oil from bark was moderate. Relative contents of hydrocarbons in the leaves oil were as high as 60.01% but decreased to 29.71% in bark oil and 11.43% in wood oil. GC analysis of gases and FT-IR, GC-MS and elemental analysis of oils were performed in this study.
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The acid-catalyzed addition of water to the double bond of alkenes is a large-scale industrial method used to synthesize low-molecular-weight alcohols. An acidic atmosphere is required to allow the hydrogen in the water molecule to act as an electrophile and attack the double bond in an alkene. The addition of a proton to the double bond creates a carbocation intermediate. The proton preferentially bonds to the less substituted end of the double bond to create a more stable carbocation...

