Utilization of woody resources by compressive molding process using high-pressure saturated steam distillation—Isolation and analysis of steam distilled components

The compressive molding process using high-pressure saturated steam has been developed in our laboratory and is used to produce biomass boards without any adhesives. Through this compressive molding process, essential oil was attempted to obtain by the high-pressure steam distillation from woody resources. In this study, sawdust from western red cedar (Thuja plicata) was used as the raw material. The yields of essential oil were compared with different extraction methods. The yields of the essential oil were increased with steam pressure and were much higher than other extraction method. Each essential oil obtained from different steam conditions mainly contained thujic acid, β-thujaplicin, furfural, and 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfural. Especially the tropolone group mainly including β-thujaplicin was isolated by chelating with copper ion.