| Summary: | <i>Eucalyptus globulus</i> wood samples were treated with hot, compressed water (autohydrolysis) in consecutive stages under non-isothermal conditions in order to convert the hemicellulose fraction into soluble compounds through reactions catalyzed by in situ generated acids. The first stage was a conventional autohydrolysis, and liquid phase obtained under conditions leading to an optimal recovery of soluble saccharides was employed in a new reaction (second crossflow stage) using a fresh wood lot, in order to increase the concentrations of soluble saccharides. In the third crossflow stage, the best liquid phase from the second stage was employed to solubilize the hemicelluloses from a fresh wood lot. The concentration profiles determined for the soluble saccharides, acids, and furans present in the liquid phases from the diverse crossflow stages were employed for kinetic modeling, based on pseudohomogeneous reactions and Arrhenius-type dependence of the kinetic coefficients on temperature. Additional characterization of the reaction products by High Pressure Size Exclusion Chromatography, High Performance Anion Exchange Chromatography with Pulsed Amperometric Detection, and Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry provided further insight on the properties of the soluble saccharides present in the various reaction media.
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