Treesearch

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are a biorenewable filler and can be an excellent nucleating agent for the development of microcellular foamed polymeric nanocomposites. However, their relatively low degradation temperature limits their use with engineering resins like polyamide 6 (PA6) in typical melt processing techniques such as injection molding, compounding, and extrusion. A water-assisted extrusion compounding process was investigated to directly compound CNC suspensions with PA6 without the need of predrying the CNCs. By using water as a plasticizer and reducing the processing temperatu...

A novel polyoxometalates (POMs) mediated direct biomass fuelcelI (DBFC) was used in this study to directly convert lignin to electricity at low temperatures with high power output and Faradaic efficiency. When phosphomolybdic acid H3PMo12O40 (PMo12) was used as the electron and proton carrier in the anode solution with a carbon electrode, and 02 was directly used as the final electron acceptor under the catalyssis of Pt, the peak power density reached 0.96 mWcm-2, 560 times higher than that of phenol-fueled microbial fuel cells (MFCs). When the cathode reaction was catalyzed by PMo12, the...

To test the hypothesis that wood coated with rutile TiO2 nanostructures can undergo degradation because of the photocatalytic activity of TiO2, three sets of wood specimens were aged at an accelerated rate. These three sets consisted ofblank wood (BW), HDTMOS/MTMOS-coated wood (WHM), and TiO2/HDTMOS/MTMOS-coated wood (WTHM). After exposure to 155-h UV irradiation, the wettability of WTHM changed from hydrophobic to hydrophilic. This indicated that the initial low-surface free-energy materials underwent degradation because of the photocatalytic activity of TiO2. After exposure to 960 h of...

Manufacturing building products such as wood panels impacts the environment, including contributing to climate change. This study is a compilation of four studies quantifying these impacts using the life cycle assessment (LCA) method on five wood-based panel products made in North America during 2012. LCA is an internationally accepted and standardized method for evaluating the environmentalimpacts of products. With LCA, holistic environmental impacts were calculated based on survey data from mills on emissions to air and water, solid waste, energy consumption, and resource use. This study...

Loblolly pine is increasingly grown on intensively managed plantation forests that yield excellent growth; however, lumber cut from these trees often contains a large percentage of juvenile wood which negatively impacts strength and stiffness. Because of changing forest management and mill practices the design values for visually graded southern pine were updated in 2013 to more accurately account for the material properties available in commerce. This study was undertaken to assess the bending strength and stiffness of loblolly pine lumber from intensively managed stands located on the...

Douglas fir is the dominant commercial tree grown in the United States. In this study Douglas fir residue was converted to single cell oils (SCO) using oleaginous yeasts. Monosaccharides were extracted from the woody biomass by pretreating with sulfite and dilute sulfuric acid (SPORL process) and hydrolyzing using commercial cellulases. A new SPORL process that uses pH profiling was compared to the traditional method. Both processes yielded 77 g l-1 concentration of sugars. The SPORL generated sugars were evaluated for conversion to SCO using yeasts Lipomyces tetrasporus and Yarrowia...

The solid substrate and spent liquo robtained after SPORL pretreatment of Douglas fir residues were evaluated as substrates for the production of intracellular microbial lipid by Mortierella isabellina NRRL 1757. The production of lipid was investigated in a batch fermentation using different strategies viz. separate hydrolysis and fermentation,quasi-simultaneous saccharification and fermentation(Q-SSF),and whole slurry (solid substrate and spent liquor)saccharification and fermentation. The maximum lipid yield (0.21 g/gsugar) was obtained with Q-SSF of the solid substrate Nutrients...

Owing to their chemical, physical, and functional characteristics, polysaccharides are considered to be the most versatile natural polymers. As a result, their properties have been exploited in various fields of research in the biomedical, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, food, and agricultural industries. A property of special interest is their ability to form systems or materials with unique physicochemical characteristics, such as hydrogels and micro- and nanoparticles for controlled release of active compounds. In the present study, polysaccharide beads formulated from alginate, cellulose...

Understanding the structure-property relationships for proteins as adhesives is complicated due to the complex and changeable colloidal nature of most proteins. An abundant source of protein in many parts of the world is the soybean, but the inexpensive soy flour is only 50% protein with the remainder being an approximately equal split of soluble and insoluble carbohydrates. These carbohydrates have been considered the causeof the poor strength under wet conditions for bonded wood products. However, removal of the soluble and/or insoluble carbohydrates did not lead to dramatic improvement...

With increasing interest in bio-based adhesives, research on proteins has expanded because historically they have been used by both nature and humans as adhesives. A wide variety of proteins have been used as wood adhesives. Ancient Egyptians most likely used collagens tobond veneer to wood furniture, then came casein (milk), blood, fish scales, and soy adhesives, with soybeans and caseins being important for the development of the plywood and glulam industries. Despite many years of research on developing adhesive products, it is not clear how the proteins provide good adhesive strength,...