Treesearch

A new method is described for producing high-lignin-containing and lignin-free cellulose nanocrystals from poplar wood (HLCNCs and LFCNCs, respectively). This was accomplished by first hydrothermally treating the poplar wood fibers at 170°C for 45 min in a Parr reactor. For obtaining HLCNCs, the treated fibers were directly hydrolyzed by 64% sulfuric acid whereas for LFCNCs, the fibers were delignified prior to the acid hydrolysis. The CNCs thus produced were characterized using spectroscopy, microscopy, and diffraction techniques and compared with bleached kraft pulp-CNCs. The comparison...

The State of Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources is responsible for operating one of the largest state park systems in the United States. Potawatomi State Park, located on the Door County peninsula, consists of about 1,200 acres of flat to gently rolling upland terrain bordered by steep slopes and rugged limestone cliffs along Lake Michigan’s shoreline. A 75-ft observation tower sits atop a 150-ft bluff overlooking Lake Michigan. The USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, was asked to conduct an assessment of the main support timbers of the tower. This report summarizes...

This report presents a life-cycle impact assessment analysis of near-woods processing of post-harvest forest residues into wood briquettes as an alternative to other fuels such as propane in residential heating systems. The study was part of the Waste to Wisdom project with a broader goal of evaluating the feasibility of using semimobile biomass conversion technologies to overcome the barriers of valorizing woody biomass residues for renewable energy and material production. The cradle-to-grave system boundary included feedstock procurement, hauling, feedstock preparation, production of...

This report presents life-cycle impact assessment analysis of near-woods processing of post-harvest forest residues (a biomass raw material) into torrefied wood for bioenergy production. The study was part of the Waste to Wisdom project with a broader goal of evaluating the use semimobile biomass conversion technologies to optimize biomass logistics, thereby overcoming the barriers of valorizing woody biomass residues for renewable energy and material production. Cradle-to-grave analysis of the torrefied briquettes (TOB) supply chain included feedstock procurement, hauling, feedstock...

This study investigated the recycle utilization of SPORL pretreatment spent liquor. Three ligno sulfonates (LSs)were purified from the spent liquor of SPORL pretreated Beetle-killed lodgepole pine (BKLP), Poplar NE222 (NE222),and Douglas-fir(FS10). The structural characterization showed that the apparent molecular mass and sulfur content of NE222-LS were lowest, but the phenolic group content was highest. FS10 LS, from a pH profiling SPORL pretreatment, had the highest apparent molecular mass but medium sulfur and phenolic group content. The spectral analyses exhibited that the guaiacyl...

Because of the increasing demand for sustainable products and services at a global level, manufacturers are encouraged to document the environmental performance of their products and services. This helps to enhance efficiency of supply chain and create value for stakeholders. Declaration of environmental performance supports manufacturers’ claims for products such as wood products, which many stakeholders consider more environmentally benign than other products. Through the internationally accepted life-cycle assessment (LCA) tool, many wood products have been shown to be less energy...

A brief description of the progress on mechatronic multi-degree of freedom material testers developed at the US Naval Research Laboratory (US-NRL) is given to describe the enabling technology for acquiring data that encapsulate both the recoverable and the dissipative behaviors of various composite material systems under quasi-static multiaxial loading conditions. The notion of material equivalence is then explored from the perspective of the data-driven dissipative behavior of multiaxially tested composite laminates. Emphasis is given by considering the same ber within the same resins and...

Glycoside hydrolase family 30 subfamily 8 (GH30-8) β-1,4-endoxylanases are known for their appendage-dependent function requiring recognition of an α-1,2-linked glucuronic acid (GlcA) common to glucuronoxylans for hydrolysis. Structural studies have indicated that the GlcA moiety of glucuronoxylans is coordinated through six hydrogen bonds and a salt bridge. These GlcA-dependent endoxylanases do not have significant activity on xylans that do not bear GlcA substitutions such as unsubstituted linear xylooligosacchar-ides or cereal bran arabinoxylans. In the present study, we present the...

The NHERI TallWood project is a U.S. National Science Foundation-funded four-year research project focusing on the development of a resilient tall wood building design philosophy. One of the first major tasks within the project was to test a full-scale two-story mass timber building at the largest shake table in the U.S., the NHERI@UCSD’s outdoor shake table facility, to study the dynamic behaviour of a mass timber building with a resilient rocking wall system. The specimen consisted of two coupled two-story tall post-tensioned cross laminated timber rocking walls surrounded by mass timber...

The collective U.S. housing market was primarily positive in May 2018, on month-over-month and year-over-year bases. New single-family permits declined on a monthly basis. Existing house sales and multifamily permits were negative on month-over-month and year-over-year bases. Regionally, data were mixed across all sectors.