Possibility of wood classification in Korean softwood species using near-infrared spectroscopy based on their chemical compositions

Abstract

This study was to establish the interrelation between chemical compositions and near infrared (NIR) spectra for the classification on distinguishability of domestic gymnosperms. Traditional wet chemistry methods and infrared spectral analyses were performed. In chemical compositions of five softwood species including larch (Larix kaempferi), red pine (Pinus densiflora), Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis), cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa), and cedar (Cryptomeria japonica), their extractives and lignin contents provided the major information for distinction between the wood species. However, depending on the production region and purchasing time of woods, chemical compositions were different even though in same species. Especially, red pine harvested from Naju showed the highest extractive content about 16.3%, whereas that from Donghae showed about 5.0%. These results were expected due to different environmental conditions such as sunshine amount, nutrients and moisture contents, and these phenomena were also observed in other species. As a result of the principal component analysis (PCA) using NIR between five species (total 19 samples), the samples were divided into three groups in the score plot based on principal component (PC) 1 and principal component (PC) 2; group 1) red pine and Korean pine, group 2) larch, and group 3) cypress and cedar. Based on the chemical composition results, it was concluded that extractive content was highly relevant to wood classification by NIR analysis.