Treesearch

Biochar produced from low-value forest biomass can provide substantial benefits to ecosystems and mitigate climate change-induced risks such as forest fires. Forest residues from restoration activities and timber harvest and biochar itself are bulky and thus incur high logistic costs, so are considered major bottlenecks for the commercialization of the biochar industry. The objectives of this study were to assess the environmental footprints and techno-economic feasibility of converting forest residues in Pacific Northwest United States into biochar pellets using portable systems followed...

Southern yellow pine specimens collected from historical structures, stumps, and coarse woody debris in forests have been difficult to identify at the species level due to similar wood anatomy. This can be problematic for dendrochronologists when identifying the correct species used in the construction of historical structures, or reconstructing forest history on the landscape and using those specimens in the context of that history. We applied a quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA) to update a century-old method plotting pith diameters against second annual ring diameters to discern one...

To improve the compatibility of an organosolv lignin (OL) in polylactic acid (PLA) blends, a green approach was pursued whereby the lignin was modified with propylene carbonate (PC) to increase its aliphatic hydroxyl content, and thereby, its reactivity. The oxyalkylated organosolv lignin (OOL, synthesized at 170 C) was analyzed by quantitative 31P NMR and showed the number of phenolic hydroxyls decreased from 4.73 to 0.16 mmol g 1 , and the number of aliphatic hydroxyls increased from 3.56 to 3.92 mmol g 1 . OOL-g-PLA copolymer (OOLPC) samples were prepared by graft polymerization of...

Copper is a common component in wood preservatives and is used to protect the wood against fungal degradation. Previous research has shown that the Cu++ oxidation state provides the best wood protection, and Cu++ is widely believed to be the oxidation state of most copper within treated wood. A recent study using X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy (XANES) reported high amounts of Cu+ in wood that had been in contact with corroded fasteners. This study uses XANES to examine the copper oxidation states in wood treated with several different wood preservatives as a function of time after...

Wood plastic composites (WPCs) specimens containing high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and wood pruning waste were manufactured and evaluated for their mechanical properties. Pecan waste was used as an accessible and sustainable source in this study, and the effects of its particle size and concentration on WPC strengths were evaluated. Pecan waste was milled and sieved to various particle sizes, and testing samples were fabricated by mixing them in a twin-screw extruder and injection molding. A coupling agent was used to create a stable bond between the HDPE and wood. Both tensile...

While it is known that modifying the hydroxyls in wood can improve the decay resistance; what is often missing in the literature is whether these modifications alter wood nanostructure, and how these changes correlate to the improved decay resistance. Here, we used small angle neutron scattering (SANS) to probe the effects of alkylene oxide modifications on wood nanostructure. Southern pine wood samples were chemically modified to various weight percentage gains (WPG) using four different alkylene oxides: propylene oxide (PO), butylene oxide (BO), epichlorohydrin (EpH), and epoxybutene...

This study was aimed at improving the gas barrier property of sugarcane based LLDPE using cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs). Specifically, this study evaluated the effect of CNC content on the crystallinity, tortuosity factor, carbon dioxide permeability (PCO2), and/or oxygen permeability (PO2) of bio-LLDPE sheets and films. All nanocomposites showed considerable improvement in gas barrier irrespective of the CNC content. The PCO2 coefficient of LLDPE sheets decreased by 36% by adding 10 wt% of CNCs into the sheet. Similarly, a significant decline in both PO2 (about 50%) and PCO2 (about 33%)...

Wildland fire can cause significant damage but is also a natural process that is key to the healthy functioning of many ecosystems worldwide. Primary fuels for a wildland fire are the dead foliage and small branches which accumulate as litter on the ground. A cone calorimeter was used to measure the various aspects of these fuels. A single sample of preignition gases from the live leaves of seven plant species were vacuum collected on quality filters and within super-chilled solvent mixtures. GC-TOFMS (1D) and GCxGC-TOFMS (2D) were used to characterize the "white" smoke emissions. The...

This report highlights the benefits of tropical research in wood durability, preservation, and related fields. The Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) has a long tradition of conducting tests in the tropics around the world and recognizes the benefits they present. Research needs are also discussed, and research partners are identified. The appendixes summarize activities during the 2019 research summit in Panama and Suriname in which FPL and Michigan Technological University (MTU) participated. In late 2017, Department of Defense (DOD) contacted FPL and MTU to assist in durability evaluations...

Cross-laminated timber (CLT) used in the U.S. is mainly imported from abroad. In the existing literature, however, there are data on domestic transportation, but little understanding exists about the environmental impacts from the CLT import. Most studies use travel distances to the site based on domestic supply origins. The new Adohi Hall building at the University of Arkansas campus, Fayetteville, AR, presents the opportunity to address the multimodal transportation with overseas origin, and to use real data gathered from transporters and manufacturers. The comparison targets the...