Valuable chemicals identified from Flourensia species using vacuum and analytical pyrolysis

Abstract

The genus Flourensia, present throughout most of the Americas has been identified as a source of renewable chemicals. Here, we characterized the aerial biomass and matrix polysaccharides of Flourensia campestris, F. oolepis and F. riparia, and explored their potential as a source of chemicals through the study of two techniques: analytical pyrolysis (PY-GC/MS) and vacuum pyrolysis (VP). In all species, hemicellulose was more abundant than cellulose and lignin, with galacturonic acid being the most abundant monosaccharide. Bio-oils from VP exhibited a complex combination of phenols, terpenes, furans and nitrogen-containing compounds which have a wide range of industrial applications. Differences between the composition of VP pyrolytic oils derived from the mixture of leaves and stems or from individual organs suggest possible interactions between biopolymers. Combining PY-GC/MS and principal component analysis (PCA) we identified fingerprints for leaves and stems of the three Flourensia species.