Petri Kilpeläinen

My research has mostly been hot water extraction of forest and agricultural biomasses. We have extracted spruce, birch, pine and other wood species to extract hemicelluloses. Hemicelluloses are used as films, food emulsions, cosmetics, paints, and other applications. We are constantly looking for new methods to isolate valuable compounds from biomasses and industrial side-streams. Another research topic has been isotope research, where cellulose is modified chemically. The aim is to obtain information about cellulose isotope ratio in wood. Isotope ratio gives information about the water source of wood. Is it mainly from source water or precipitation. Isotope information will tell what kind of conditions have been in different seasons and monitor effect of climate change on forests.