CHEMICAL COMPONENTS AND WATER REPELLENT PROPERTY

OF RUBBERWOOD (HEVEA BRASILIENSIS) FROM BANGLADESH

S. C. Das
S. Akhter
M.Sayeed

ABSTRACT
Chemical components and water repellent property of rubberwood (Hevea brasiliensis) from
Bangladesh were determined. The species from Bangladesh was found to possess about the same
amount of water, alcohol-benzene and causticsoda solubles compared to that from Malaysia.
Bangladeshi rubberwood contains higher amount of holocellulose than that from Malaysian
rubberwood. Water repellent property of the species was found to be lower than that of teak.
Considering the cellulose content and water repellent property, the species seems to be suitable
for chemical pulping, conversion products and various indoor uses.

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Key words : Chemical components, Hevea brasiliensis, rubberwood, water repellency

INTRODUCTION

Rubber is an important renewable commer­ end-uses. The determination of chemical com­

cial product which is obtained from rubber trees
(Hevea brasiliensis). This tree was first introduced
in Bangladesh in 1956 and has been cultivated as a
plantation crop since 1962 (Rahman 1988). Rubber
tree is capable to exude latex for about 25 years. As
the extraction is not economically feasible after
this age, it is advisable to fell the trees for new
plantations. Rubberwood has emerged as an
important source of timber in Bangladesh. Thus
the extracted rubberwood needs to be studied to
assess the potential of the species for various
ponents would help us in this context. Choon and
Bin (1982) have done some work on chemical
composition of rubberwood from Malaysia. No
information on the water repellent property of the
species is however available. The shrinkage and
swelling of a wood correlate to its water repellent
property and play an important role in the utiliza­
tion and seasoning of wood (Peck 1957). This
investigation is, therefore, aimed at identifying
the end-uses of rubberwood from Bangladesh
through the knowledge of its chemical composi­
tion and water repellent property.

S. C. Das; S. Akhter, Junior Research Officers; M. Sayeed, Field Investigator; Bangladesh Forest Research Institute,
P. O. Box 273, Chittagong, Bangladesh.

58 Bangladesh Journal of Forest Science Vol. 24 (1): 58-61,1995

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A disc of rubberwood aged about 25 years
was collected and cut into chips manually. The
chips were airdried and ground in a laboratory
Wiley mill. The woodmeal screened through a 40
mesh and retained in a 60 mesh sieve was col­
lected. The extraneous matters and major chemi­
cal components were determined using the
woodmeal according to TAPPI Standard (1961)
method (T-lm-59, T-4m-59, T-6m-59, T-9m - 54, T-
203m-58). Wood blocks of size 0.6X2X2 cm were
prepared to determine the water repellent prop­
erty and dimensional stability. The samples were
then dried in an oven at 105+2^C and cooled in a
desiccator for 48 hours. Half of the numbers of
specimen samples were subjected to alcohol-ben-
zene extraction and the remaining samples were
treated as unextracted. The weight and tangential
dimension of the samples were taken before and
after soaking in distilled water at varying periods
of time to determine the amount of water sorption
and change in tangential dimension.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Chemical constituents and extractives of
rubberwood from Bangladesh are given in
Table-1, and these have been compared with
those of rubberwood from Malaysia and teak
from India. The water soluble extractives were
found to be same in both Bangladeshi and
Malaysian rubberwood. Bangladeshi rubberwood
contains comparable water soluble extractives to
those of teak from India (Table -1).
Bangladeshi and Malaysian rubberwood were
found to contain about the same alcohol-benzene
soluble extractives. Teak contains about three
times higher alcohol-benzene soluble extractives
than those of rubberwood (Table -1).
Causticsoda solubility was found almost the
same in Bangladeshi and Malaysian rubberwood
(Table -1). Causticsoda solubility of rubberwood
Vol. 24 (1), 1995
was higher than that of teak (11.9%) as reported by
Choon and Bin (1982). The alkali solubles, can be
related to the processes of wood decay, and to the
damage caused by animals and plant pests (Choon
and Bin 1982). Higher causticsoda solubles in wood
indicate the presence of resinous matter and acetyl
groups in hemicellulose (Razzaque et al. 1986). As
causticsoda solubility is not very high when com­
pared to many hardwood species (Das et al. 1993),
rubberwood is less susceptible to fungal decay.
In Bangladeshi rubberwood the percentage of
holocellulose was found the highest in compari­
son to Malaysian rubberwood and Indian teak
(Table-1). Since the main and most important com­
ponent of a chemical pulp is holocellulose, this
species may be recommended for manufacturing
chemical pulp. Rubberwood was also found to
contain reasonable amount of alpha - cellulose for
making rayon-grade pulp.
Swelling and shrinking properties of wood
are important indications while selecting the
wood species for certain end-uses. Swelling prop­
erty of rubberwood was evaluated by measuring
the change of water sorption and tangential di­
mension of wood blocks. The results are shown in
Table-2. From the table, it is marked, rubber
wood absorbed more water than teak did. Higher
swelling property of rubberwood over teak,
restricts the species for outdoor uses. Dimensional
stability of rubberwood was also found inferior to
that of teak. Better dimensional stability of teak
has been reported by Tewari (1992) too. Removal
of extractives has been found to enhance swelling
significantly (Mantanis et al. undated). The same
trend was found in case of rubberwood. But the
reverse trend was observed in teak (Table-2). This
may be due to the nature of extractives present in
teak which on removal shows lesser swelling
property.
59
 Water soluble extractives are hygroscopic in
nature. So, a wood containing higher amounts of
hygroscopic salts can not be used for exterior
purposes. It is because the water absorbed attracts
the wood destroying agents (Farmer 1967) which
reduces the durability of wood. On the other hand
the alcohol-benzene solubles are hydrophobic in
nature and are toxic to fungus, termites etc. The
wood species having higher amount of alcohol-
benzene solubles possesses good polishing, var­
nishing and painting properties (Farmer 1967). As
rubberwood contains less alcohol-benzene
solubles, this species is not considered durable for
outdoor uses and it also does not possess the above
physical properties. Moreover, during conversion
of this wood into rayon, nylon, pulp, celluloid etc.
lesser amount of chemicals will be consumed for
removal of the extractives. As a result the produc­
tion cost reduces (Dadswell and Stewart 1962).
In consideration to extractives, chemical com­
ponents and water repellent property of
rubberwood, the species may be suitable for in­
door purposes, chemical pulping and conversion
products provided some other important proper­
ties such as seasoning, sawing, mechanical strength
of the species are found favourable.
*5

Table 1. Chemical constituents and extractives of rubberwood and teak

Treatment Rubberwood (Hevea Rubberwood (Hevea Teak (Tectona

brasiliensis) from brasiliensis') from grandis) from
Bangladesh Malaysia India
(Choon and Bin 1982) (Tewari 1992)

Cold water 4.07 4.00

solubility (%)

Hot water 5.13 4.90 5.68

solubility (%)

Causticsoda 18.8 18.5

solubility (%)

Alcohol-benzene 2.80 2.40 6.59

solubility (%)

Holocellulose (%) 76.6 69.8 61.1

Alpha-cellulose (%) 42.7 40.5 36.3

60 Bangladesh Journal of Forest Science

Table 2. Water repellent property of rubberwood and teak

Period Tangential Change in Weight Change in water

Species of dimension tangential (gm) sorption (%)
soaking (cm) dimension (%)

Extra­ Unextr­ Extra­ Unextr­ Extra­ Unex­ Extra­ Unextr­

cted acted cted acted cted tracted cted acted

Rubberwood 0-hour 2.00 2.00 0.00 0.00 1.89 1.88 0.00 0.00
(Hevea brasiliensis) 1-hour 2.10 2.11 5.00 5.55 2.46 2.44 29.7 30.0
2-hours 2.15 2.13 7.00 6.50 2.52 2.65 33.3 41.2
24-hours 2.16 2.15 8.12 7.50 3.23 3.09 70.4 64.6

Teak (Tectona 0-hour 2.08 2.08 0.00 0.00 1.72 . 1.70 0.00 0.00
grandis) 1-hour 2.09 2.10 0.48 0.90 1.79 1.85 4.07 8.45
2-hours 2.09 2.11 0.48 1.44 1.83 1.90 6.40 11.6
24-hours 2.10 2.11 0.96 1.44 2.21 2.54 28.7 49.1

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Vol. 24 (1), 1995 61