Avaliação de clones de Eucalyptus para produção de carvão vegetal

Abstract

Charcoal is economically representative in the Brazilian economy, specially in Minas Gerais, the main producer, and consumer of this product. A problem related to the charcoal utilization is its heterogeneous quality, which is influenced both for the wood and the production process. This variability causes waste of material and make it difficult to handle the blast furnaces. The objective of this work was to evaluate the wood of ten clones: seven of Eucalyptus grandis and three of Eucalyptus saligna: both directed to charcoal production. Also, it was looked for to select clones with higher capacity for the establishment of a forestry improvement program. During the assessment it was considered the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the charcoal. According to the results it was verified that there exists a large variation among the assessed clones, which is higher in Eucalyptus grandis. The production of dry mass, associated to the estimation of mass of both lignin and charcoal proportionate a classification of the clones considered as the superior (clones number five, six and two), median (clones number ten, three, one and eight) and inferior (clones number nine, four and seven). Clone seven was the worsen for the charcoal production due to its low growth rate. The classification of the clones based on both the wood chemical characteristics and charcoal yield was not satisfactory. The growth rate was fundamental for the clones classification, being recommendable to incorporate it in future assessment of wood quality. Eucalyptus grandis clones were superior to Eucalyptus saligna clones.