Abstract
An experimental procedure has been developed to analyze the effect of individual components of Pinus radiata sapwood on overall drying behaviour by partially extracting hemicellulose through hot-water extraction. It was found that after 32 h of extraction, 3% of the overall solids content on an oven-dry mass basis was removed from the timber samples, the overall drying time decreased by 15–20%, sorption capacity reduced by 8%, and the predicted diffusion coefficient fitted to experimental data increased by 160% compared with nonextracted samples. Thermogravimetric analysis coupled with the sorption and drying results suggests that the loss of solids is mainly a loss of hemicellulose, indicating a loss of 11–13% of the hemicellulose content, so the modification to the wood composition is suggested to be responsible for the change in drying behavior.