Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems

Wood Chemistry

The group is led by Professor Tapani Vuorinen and specializes in the chemistry and structure of wood, the mechanisms and kinetics of chemical reactions of wood components, and the use of vibrational spectroscopy in studying plant materials and their chemical reactions.
Wood acetate by Yesul Woo
Woodacetate by Yesul Woo, photo:Eeva Suorlahti

Our research projects:

1. CHEMARTS & DWoC 2.0

CHEMARTS is a long-term strategic collaboration between two Aalto University schools, The School of Chemical Technology (Aalto CHEM) and The School of Arts, Design and Architecture (Aalto ARTS). Read more about CHEMARTS here.

Design Driven Value Chains In The World Of Cellulose (DWoC) is a multidisciplinary research collaboration project focused on finding new & innovative applications for cellulosic materials. Read more about the DWoC research collaboration here.

2. Catalytic Bleaching

Pulp bleaching is a fundamentally important part of a modern state-of-the-art pulp mill. The work carried out within the Wood Chemistry research group concentrates on completely new catalytic pulp bleaching innovations which could potentially lead to sizeable economic and environmental benefits due to reduced raw material and energy needs.

3. Utilization of Willow Bark

Traditionally willow (Salix) has been studied mainly as an energy crop for the combined heat and power generation. The Wood Chemistry research group is conducting research on the alternative uses of willow bark with extremely interesting and promising results. The work is currently focusing on the chemical structure of the willow bark and its fractination to extractives and fibers.

4. Cell Wall Reactivity

Doctoral candidates from the Wood Chemistry research group are taking part in a research program focusing on the development of advanced scientific methods for analyzing cellulose fiber reactivity. Work carried out within this topic include accessibility measurements based on dynamic vapour sorption (DVS) with deuterium oxide (D2O) exchange as well as work on the reactivity of cellulose fibers with iodometric titration duting TEMPO+-mediated oxidation.

5. Cell Wall Structure

The cell wall structure studies carried out in the Wood Chemistry research group aim at revealing the wood ultrastucture i.e. the organization & distribution of subcellular components such as cellulose and lignin. The ultrastructure of wood has a huge influence on the various processes that are used to transform wood into different products as the tight arrangement of cell components limit their accessibility in different chemical and mechanical treatments.

6. Raman Spectroscopy

The Wood Chemistry research group of Professor Tapani Vuorinen is pioneering the utilization of the optical UV-Raman imaging to study the structure of cell wall in combination with highly advanced mathematical and computational modelling.

7. Modeling of Pulping & Bleaching

The extensive work carried out within the wood chemistry research group on modeling of pulping and bleaching processes has resulted in e.g. the development of a pulp bleaching model which is a powerful tool for scientists and engineers alike.

Research group members:

Jinze Dou

Academy Research Fellow

Anastasiia Matiukhina

Postdoctoral Researcher
Wood Chemistry

Related content:

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A dip in the biobased liquid gives cucumbers a protective film. Innovative idea will be presented in the international BioDesign Challenge competition.

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Nordic Biomaterials with CHEMARTS – Small steps for change are valuable

In the coming years, our material world will change dramatically. The overuse of existing raw materials cannot continue, and global consumption must decrease.

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New starts at the Kemira Boot Camp

Kemira together with the School of Chemical Engineering organized a Boot Camp for the students of Aalto University.

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Mixing people

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Professors Markus Linder and Tapani Vuorinen invited to the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters

Professor of Biomolecular Materials Markus Linder and Professor of Wood Chemistry Tapani Vuorinen from the School of Chemical Engineering at Aalto University have been elected as new members of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters.

Aalto logo

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Winning team brainstorming new ideas for paper roll packaging. Photo: Veera Eskelin, UPM

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Catalyst could help bleach pulp in seconds

In addition to time, a promising invention in the field of chemical technology could also save energy and chemicals.

Catalyst could help bleach pulp in seconds photo: Heidi-Hanna Karhu

Latest publications:

Production of Micro Nanofibrillated Cellulose from Prerefined Fiber via a Dry Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) Oxygen Plasma-Treated Powder Precursor

Katarina Dimic-Misic, Bratislav Obradovic, Milorad Kuraica, Mirjana Kostic, Huy Quang Lê, Matea Korica, Monireh Imani, Patrick Gane 2024 Journal of Natural Fibers

Characterization of crude extracts from willow barks and their performance as proanthocyanidin -based coagulants in water treatment

Jinze Dou, Adedayo Bello, Jari Koivisto, Kristoffer Meinander, Tiina Leiviskä, Tapani Vuorinen 2024 Industrial Crops and Products

Refinability of mercerized softwood kraft pulp

Antti Koistinen, Huaicheng Wang, Eero Hiltunen, Tapani Vuorinen, Thaddeus Maloney 2024 Cellulose

StExCell: novel steam-explosion-based biorefinery concept for dissolving pulp production

Huy Quang Lê, Jialin She, Wenwen Fang, Herbert Sixta 2024 Holzforschung

A note on the chemical fate of the DABCO catalyst in amine-catalyzed hypochlorite bleaching of cellulosic pulps

Anna F. Lehrhofer, Estefania Isaza Ferro, Takashi Hosoya, Hubert Hettegger, Tapani Vuorinen, Thomas Rosenau 2024 Cellulose

Microwave hydrolysis, as a sustainable approach in the processing of seaweed for protein and nanocellulose management

Anna Trubetskaya, Huy Quang Lê, Jenni Leppiniemi, Tetyana Koso, Teemu Välisalmi, Markus B. Linder, Italo Pisano, Jinze Dou, J. J. Leahy, Eero Kontturi 2024 Algal Research

Nanotheranostics to target antibiotic-resistant bacteria: Strategies and applications

Rahul Bhattacharjee, Arvind Negi, Basudha Bhattacharya, Tanima Dey, Priya Mitra, Subham Preetam, Lamha Kumar, Sulagna Kar, Sabya Sachi Das, Danish Iqbal, Mehnaz Kamal, Fayez Alghofaili, Sumira Malik, Abhijit Dey, Saurabh Kumar Jha, Shreesh Ojha, Ana Cláudia Paiva-Santos, Kavindra Kumar Kesari, Niraj Kumar Jha 2023 OpenNano

Seasonal dynamics in structural characteristics within bark stems of cultivated willow (Salix sp.) by NMR and time-gated Raman spectroscopy

Jinze Dou, Martin Kögler, Kavindra Kumar Kesari, Leena Pitkänen, Tapani Vuorinen 2023 Green Chemistry

Structural features of lignin-hemicellulose-pectin (LHP) orchestrate a tailored enzyme cocktail for potential applications in bark biorefineries

Jinze Dou, Jincheng Wang, Sami Hietala, Dmitry V. Evtuguin, Tapani Vuorinen, Jian Zhao 2023 Green Chemistry

Valorization of long-neglected spruce bark and bark-press effluents through integrated utilization of stilbenoids and pectin

Jinze Dou, Evgen Multia, Xinyue Dong, Lei Wang, Tapani Vuorinen 2023 Chemical Engineering Journal
More information on our research in the Aalto research portal.
Research portal
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