Treesearch

Peanut hull residues were considered for the manufacturing of particleboards. Various concentrations of two types of adhesive—polymeric diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) and urea-formaldehyde (UF)—were separately combined with four types of peanut hull particles (fine, mixed, coarse particles, and peanut hull powder) to manufacture particleboards with a certain target density. The confidence level of the effect of the selected production parameters on the physical and mechanical properties of the panels was evaluated. The results showed that increasing the adhesive mass percentage...

Illegal logging and the illegal timber trade are major problems domestically and internationally, threatening not just individual species, but entire ecosystems. The negative impacts are diverse, causing untold environmental, social and economic damage. Illegal timber trade fuels forest degradation and deforestation, causes harm to local communities, and deprives producer countries of billions of dollars in revenue.

In May 2014, the Member States of the United Nations adopted Resolution 23/1 on “strengthening a targeted crime prevention and criminal justice response to combat illicit trafficking in forest products, including timber.” The resolution promotes the development of tools and technologies that can be used to combat the illicit trafficking of timber. Stopping illegal logging worldwide could substantially increase revenue from the legal trade in timber and halt the associated environmental degradation, but law enforcement and timber traders themselves are hampered by the lack of available...

Contamination of wooden framing structures with semivolatile organic chemicals is a common occurrence from the spillage of chemicals, such as impregnation with fuel oil hydrocarbons during floods. Little information is available to understand the penetration of fuel oil hydrocarbons into wood under ambient conditions. To imitate flood and storage scenarios, the sorption of n-hexadecane (representing fuel oil hydrocarbons) and water by southern yellow pine was studied using gravimetric techniques at ambient temperature and pressure. The sorption curves obtained had three distinct regions,...

A checklist of the ptinid beetles (including Anobiidae) of Peru is presented with 5 subfamilies, 22 genera, and 33 identified species. One species, Calymmaderus funki Pic, is reported as a new country record. Six genera are reported as new records for Peru (i.e. Byrrhodes, Caenocara, Mirosternus, Petalium, and Cryptorama), however, species within these genera are not yet identified. This contribution is part of the ‘Beetles of Peru’ project.

Permethrin is a common insecticide used in wood preservation. It is an effective synthetic pyrethroid that is considered to be less toxic to higher organisms than organochlorine insecticides. In wood preservation, it can be used in combination with fungicides such as 3-iodo-2-propynyl butyl carbamate (IPBC). Permethrin has a dual mode of action as it is a repellent and a contact insecticide. Although the efficacy of permethrin on termites has been examined, many of the studies looked at the effects of treated soil and not treated wood. In this study, we examined the effects of three levels...

The residual solids from enzymatic hydrolysis are usually burned to produce energy and have been explored as a feedstock for various products including activated carbon and lignin based polymers. These products require additional procedures unrelated to the existing biorefinery equipment. In the current study, we proposed successive sulfite treatments to utilize the enzymolysis residues for producing fermentable sugars and lignosulfonates. Two sulfite methods were compared as an initial pretreatment. It was found that the acid bisulfite treatment achieved higher hemicellulose removal...

Enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass is highly dependent on the changes in structural features after pretreatment. Mechanical milling pretreatment is an effective approach to alter the physical structure of biomass and thus improve enzymatic hydrolysis. This study examined the influence of structural characteristics on the enzymatic hydrolysis of micronized wood particles from mechanical milling pretreatment. We have also evaluated the energy efficiency of this processing method. Results indicate that the influence of processing variables on enzymatic hydrolysis of micronized...

Nanoscale sorption is a promising strategy for catalyst and purification system design. In this paper, cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) were densely attached with aldehyde functional groups on the surface via a mild periodate oxidation process, and then applied as mesoporous sorbents to remove Cu(II) and Pb(II) from aqueous solutions. In the studied concentration range (0.6–1.0 mmol L
-1), a removal capacity of 0.75 mmol g-
1 for Pb(II) and 0.58 mmol g
-1 for Cu(II) was obtained. It is higher than most reported results over a much broader concentration range. Furthermore, the physical chemistry...

Wood pulp cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) thin film is a novel recyclable and biodegradable material. We investigated the microwave dielectric properties of the epoxy coated-CNF thin film for potential broad applications in flexible high speed electronics. The characterizations of dielectric properties were carried out in a frequency range of 1–10 GHz. The dielectric constant and loss tangent were extracted by using measurements of microstrip transmission lines that were built on the epoxy coated- CNF film and combined with Agilent Advanced Design System simulations. The RF property for the...