Treesearch

This paper describes an approach to modeling U.S. forest sector market and trade impacts of expansion in domestic wood energy consumption under hypothetical future U.S. wood biomass energy policy scenarios. The U.S. Forest Products Module (USFPM) was created to enhance the modeling of the U.S. forest sector within the Global Forest Products Model (GFPM), providing a more detailed representation of U.S. regional timber supply and wood residue markets. Scenarios were analyzed with USFPM/GFPM ranging from a baseline 48% increase to a 173% increase in annual U.S. consumption of wood for energy...

The Chemical Safety and Hazards Investigation Board has recently encouraged chemical engineering faculty to address student knowledge about reactive hazards in their curricula. This paper presents a simple approach that may be used to illustrate the importance of these types of safety considerations.

This critical review provides a processing-structure-property perspective on recent advances in cellulose nanoparticles and composites produced from them. It summarizes cellulose nanoparticles in terms of particle morphology, crystal structure, and properties. Also described are the self-assembly and rheological properties of cellulose nanoparticle suspensions. The methodology of composite processing and resulting properties are fully covered, with an emphasis on neat and high fraction cellulose composites. Additionally, advances in predictive modeling from molecular dynamic simulations of...

This paper compares two methods of measuring the corrosion of steel and galvanized steel in wood: a long-term exposure test in solid wood and a rapid test method where fasteners are electrochemically polarized in extracts of wood treated with six different treatments. For traditional wood preservatives, the electrochemical extract method correlates with solid wood exposure which suggests that the reduction of cupric ions is the cathodic reaction in both the solid wood and the extract. For treatments without copper, the extract method predicted a higher corrosion rate than the solid wood...

This study investigated the effect of fiber hornification during drying on lignocellulosic substrate enzymatic saccharification. Two chemically pretreated wood substrates and one commercial bleached kraft hardwood pulp were used. Heat drying at 105 and 150°C and air drying at 50% RH and 23.8°C for different durations were applied to produce substrate with various degrees of hornification. It was found that substrate enzymatic digestibilities (SEDs) of hornified substrates made from the same never-dried sample correlate very well to an easily measurable parameter, water retention value...

A main route for the efficient utilization of wood resources is to reduce wood to small pieces and then bond them together (Frihart and Hunt 2010). Although humankind has been bonding wood since early Egyptian civilizations, the quality and quantity of bonded wood products has increased dramatically over the past 100 years with the development of new adhesives and wood products.

This study demonstrates the feasibility of integrating the production of nano-fibrillated cellulose (NFC), a potentially highly valuable biomaterial, with sugar/biofuel (ethanol) from wood fibers. Commercial cellulase enzymes were used to fractionate the less recalcitrant amorphous cellulose from a bleached Kraft eucalyptus pulp, resulting in a highly crystalline and recalcitrant cellulose (RC). The RC is difficult to hydrolyze to sugars but very suitable for producing biobased nanomaterials through mechanical homogenization. A range of fractionation yields of RC from 10–70% can be...

In recent years, there has been increased interest in the use of inorganic UV blocking nanoparticles for photostabilization of wood surfaces. Photostability and moisture uptake properties of wood veneers coated with a combination of hybrid inorganic-organic thin sol-gel films and organic light stabilizers was investigated. The light stabilizers were applied by brushing, and the thin sol-gel films were deposited on the wood surface by dipping in a sol prepared from a mixture of methyltrimethoxysilane, hexadecyltrimethoxysilane, and aluminum isopropoxide precursors. Although the sol-gel film...

Although (flotation) deinking has been a common industry practice for several decades, true residual ink content and deinking efficiency have never been quantified. Paper brightness and ERIC (Effective Residual Ink Concentration), based on measurements of the absorption coefficient of deinked pulp, have been used to determine performance of flotation deinking processes and the quality of deinked pulps. This study demonstrated a new method for quantifying true residual ink content of mixed office waste paper by determining the trace iron content in pulp samples. Two sets of laboratory...

The objective is to evaluate the effect of oxalic acid (OA) and steam-pretreatment on the primary performance of rice straw particleboards. In addition, the effect of various treatment conditions on carbohydrates released from rice straw particles was investigated. The results show that steam- and short durations of OA-treatment significantly improved the mechanical properties and dimensional stability of rice straw particleboards. However, steam-treated rice straw (without OA-treatment) panels exhibited even better performance when compared with OA-treated panels. OA-pretreatment time has...