Treesearch

Background: Woody biomass has been considered as a promising feedstock for biofuel production via thermochemical conversion technologies such as fast pyrolysis. Extensive Life Cycle Assessment studies have been completed to evaluate the carbon intensity of woody biomass-derived biofuels via fast pyrolysis. However, most studies assumed that woody biomass such as forest residues is a carbon–neutral feedstock like annual crops, despite a distinctive timeframe it takes to grow woody biomass. Besides, few studies have investigated the impacts of forest dynamics and the temporal effects of...

New approaches for assessing wood durability are needed to help categorize decay resistance as timber utilization shifts towards plantations or native forest regrowth that may be less durable than original native forest resources. This study evaluated attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy combined with principal component analysis (PCA) for distinguishing between groups of Alaska yellow cedar (Cupressus nootkatensis) wood for susceptibility to two decay fungi (Gloeophyllum trabeum and Rhodonia placenta) and the eastern subterranean termite (Reticuli...

Wood is a sustainable structural material, but it cannot be easily shaped while maintaining its mechanical properties. We report a processing strategy that uses cell wall engineering to shape flat sheets of hardwood into versatile three-dimensional (3D) structures. After breaking down wood’s lignin component and closing the vessels and fibers by evaporating water, we partially re-swell the wood in a rapid water-shock process that selectively opens the vessels. This forms a distinct wrinkled cell wall structure that allows the material to be folded and molded into desired shapes. The...

Lignocellulosic biomass is an alternative source of energy that can reduce our dependency on fossil fuels and limit greenhouse gas emissions. Several techno-economic analyses have consistently shown that all the steps in biomass-to-bioproduct processes needs improvement. Simultaneous assessment of genotypes for multiple productivity characteristics and integrating information across production stages has seldom been the focus of research efforts. To address this gap, we first determined the agronomic performance of 10 poplar genotypes. Differences between genotypes in height, diameter at...

The world is facing severe challenges from climate change and resource scarcity caused by exponential growth in population and the rising standard of living. Raw materials for buildings and construction account for more than 35% of global primary energy use and nearly 40% of energy-related CO2 emissions. The public as well as city, state, and national governments are interested in knowing the environmental impacts of materials including wood products. This study conducted a cradle-to-gate life-cycle assessment (LCA) of laminated strand lumber (LSL) production in North America (United...

Wood is an attractive and inherently sustainable alternative to many conventional materials. Recent research on improving wood mechanical strength emphasizes wood densifcation through the partial removal of lignin and hemicelluloses, therefore the chemical and physical properties of delignifed and densifed wood require further investigation. In this study, poplar wood samples were subjected to alkali and maleic acid hydrotropic delignifcation with varying degrees of lignin and hemicellulose removal followed by hot pressing, and the microstructure, chemical properties, and dimensional...

Plant-biomass-based nanomaterials have attracted great interest recently for their potential to replace petroleum-sourced polymeric materials for sustained economic development. However, challenges associated with sustainable production of lignocellulosic nanoscale polymeric materials (NPMs) need to be addressed. Producing materials from lignocellulosic biomass is a value-added proposition compared with fuel-centric approach. This report focuses on recent progress made in understanding NPMs—specifcally lignin nanoparticles (LNPs) and cellulosic nanomaterials (CNMs)—and their sustainable...

The established methods for determining the effects of ultrastructural changes in structural wood members rely upon traditional, possibly outmoded, testing paradigms. These methods usually involve destructive testing of wood specimens that are exposed to environmental conditions infrequently experienced in buildings. Understanding how the ultrastructure changes with time within the same specimen is crucial for building practitioners in assessing risks to lifesafety, assessing remaining service life of structural components, and aiding in the identification of mitigation or remediation...

In this study, we investigated the durability of adhesive bonds in the cross-laminated lumber of seven hardwood and two softwood species from the Great Lakes region. The 2-layered cross-laminations were glued using phenol resorcinol- and melamine-based structural adhesives. A total of 720 cross-laminated wood blocks were tested for delamination by exposing the samples to cyclic (wet-dry) conditions. Distribution of the adhesive on the bondlines was also studied to understand the effect of adhesive penetration on bond durability. The results indicated that mixed hardwood cross-laminations...

Chemical coprecipitation technique is proven to be a beneficial method to prepare uniformly mixed catalyst metal and Kraft lignin precursors. Coprecipitation is a simple, yet very complex process which is highly sensitive to the reaction conditions, particularly temperature. In an exothermic coprecipitation process, the reaction rate can become uncontrollable over certain temperatures which could lead to a thermal runaway reaction. In this work, metal-lignin nanocomposites were synthesized by coprecipitation of metal (M) salts and Kraft lignin. Kraft lignin and metal salts were dissolved...