Water removal from wood biomass by liquefied dimethyl ether for enhancing heating value

Liquefied dimethyl ether (DME) was used as the dewatering solvent to remove water from Tectona grandis L.f. (T. grandis L.f.), Shorea sp., and Cinnamomum camphora (C. camphora) biomass wood. The experiments were performed at 27 °C (room temperature) and at a pressure of 0.59 MPa using a batch system. The results showed that 13-25 g of liquefied DME removed 1 g of water from the wood chip biomass matrix with a water content of 10%-40%. The UV-vis spectra of the collected liquid extract indicated the presence of some wood biomass-derived compounds. The FT-IR spectra revealed that the functional group compositions of the wood chip biomass samples before and after DME dewatering were identical. In addition, the heating value of wood chip biomass samples increased by 754-1570 kJ/kg after dewatering.