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Disk refining and ultrasonication treated sugarcane bagasse residues reclaimed from the waste stream of a simplified bioethanol process after fermentation were used to fabricate biobased composites with poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) by film casting. The morphologies and the size distributions of residue particles were characterized by scanning electronic microscopy and various particle size analyzers. The results showed that the residue particle sizes were about hundreds nanometers to tens microns after disk refining treatment. After further treatment by ultrasonication, the particle sizes...

Fiber tilt describes the projection of fiber length in the thickness direction of paper. The projection is described by the tilt angle of fibers with respect to the plane of the sheet. A simple model for fiber tilt is based on jet-to-wire velocity differential in combination with cross-flows on the wire. The tilt angle of a fiber is found to vary as the sine of its in-plane orientation angle. The phase of variation is a large multiple of the fiber-misalignment angle associated with the cross flow. The multiple can decrease from 40 to 8 as the cross-flow angle increases from 1° to 10°,...

This paper describes a study that was undertaken to evaluate the degree of correlation between in-service performance of hardboard siding and its performance in the industry standard test procedure for “weatherability of substrate.” The study included 13 different hardboard sidings: 6 noncommercial boards and 7 commercial products. All manufacturing plants operating in the United States in 1996–1997 were represented in the study. Twenty replicate specimens of each of the 13 different boards were exposed on the south side of an unconditioned building near Madison, Wisconsin, for 155 months...

Although the term “integrateed biorefinery” is new, the concept has long been familiar to the pulp and paper industry, where processes include biomass boilers providing combined heat and power, and byproducts of pulping include turpentine, fatty acids and resin acids. In the dominant kraft (or sulfate) pulping process, dissolved lignin and chemicals from the pulp digester are concentrated by evaporation and burned in a recovery boiler to generate steam and to recover the inorganic chemicals that are recausticized and reused as fresh pulping chemicals. In addition, prior to pulping, bark is...

Free-standing two-dimensional (2D) nanostructures, exemplified by graphene and semiconductor nanomembranes, exhibit exotic electrical and mechanical properties and have great potential in electronic applications where devices need to be flexible or conformal to nonplanar surfaces. Based on our previous development of a substrate-free synthesis of large-area, free-standing zinc hydroxy dodecylsulfate (ZHDS) hexagonal nanomembranes, herein, we report a spontaneous phase transformation of ZHDS nanomembranes under extended reaction time. The hexagonal ZHDS sheets transformed into rectangular...

Forests play a major role in the ecosystem sustainability and general health of our planet. The biomass contained in our forests and other green vegetations affects the carbon cycle, climate change, habitat protection, clean water supplies, and sustainable economy. Exciting new opportunities are emerging for sustainably meeting global energy needs and simultaneously creating high-value biobased products from wood, forest, agricultural residues, and other biobased materials.

Woody biomass makes up the major portion of terrestrial carbon, and forest ecosystems contain enormous reservoirs of lignocellulose belowground, in dead trees, and litter. Decomposition of this recalcitrant material and mobilization of nutrients are essential for forest health [reviewed by Boddy and Watkinson (1995)]. Although mechanisms are incompletely understood, initial decomposition of lignocellulose is efficiently carried out by certain filamentous fungi, and the genomes of representative species have been recently sequenced. This review covers these genome studies and the insight...

This design guide summarizes recent research on the corrosion of metals in treated wood, presents design strategies to minimize corrosion of metals in contact with treated wood, and is targeted toward engineers, architects, builders, and homeowners. The guide is organized as a “question and answer” document. While the questions are arranged in a logical order, each question and answer are self-contained. Special efforts have been made to provide a comprehensive bibliography to direct the reader to further information on each question. The document was created to give practical “hands-on”...

One key barrier to converting woody biomass to biofuel through the sugar platform is the low efficiency of enzymatic cellulose saccharification due to the strong recalcitrance of the crystalline cellulose. Significant past research efforts in cellulosic biofuels have focused on overcoming the recalcitrance of lignocelluloses to enhance the saccharification of the recalcitrant cellulose. However, in this work [1,2], we demonstrate the conversion of recalcitrant cellulose into cellulosic nanomaterials, which have attracted a great deal of attention recently due to their unique properties and...

The design, construction, and use of covered timber bridges is all but a lost art in these days of pre-stressed concrete, high-performance steel, and the significant growth both in the volume and size of vehicles. Furthermore, many of the existing covered timber bridges are preserved only because of their status on the National Registry of Historic Places or the diligent maintenance and care of the owners of these structures, or both. Of the covered timber bridges that remain in the United States, only a small percentage still stand today because of arson, vandalism, neglect, natural...