Treesearch

In the present study, the authors explored the viability of dry-spinning to produce cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) and polylactic acid composite fibers from dimethylformamide solutions. Fiber surface morphology, crystallinity and mechanical properties were assessed for fibers with 0, 1, 3 and 5 wt% CNCs. The fiber morphology transitioned from smooth to sharkskin to severe melt fracture with increasing extrusion speed. Surface morphology appeared to be weakly dependent on CNC content and addition of CNCs did not reduce melt fracture. Addition of 1 wt% CNC resulted in the highest crystallinity,...

The improved fungal decay resistance exhibited by modified wood has been attributed to inhibited diffusion of decay precursors and subsequent degradation products through the wood cell wall. However, data relating the effect of modification to diffusion through wood cell walls is lacking. Synchrotron X-ray fluorescence microscopy paired with an in situ humidity chamber was used to observe the transport of an implanted model metabolite, potassium (K+) ions, in wood cell walls as a function of relative humidity (RH) and extent of the wood modification acetylation. The RH threshold for K+...

The Waste to Wisdom project was part of the Biomass Research and Development Initiative (BRDI) and funded by the Department of Energy (DE-EE0006297) at an amount of $5.8 million. Our interdisciplinary research team, consisting of academics, business professionals, and land managers, worked together for about four years (September 2013 to December 2017) to: 1) conduct field-based experiments to develop innovative tools and systems that improve the economics, accessibility, and production of quality feedstocks from forest residues, 2) develop and test stand-alone in-woods or near-the-forest...

The Forest Products Annual Market Review 2017-2018 provides a comprehensive analysis of markets in the UNECE region and reports on the main market infuences outside the UNECE region. It covers the range of products from the forest to the enduser: from roundwood and primary processed products to value-added and housing. Statistics-based chapters analyse the markets for wood raw materials, sawn softwood, sawn hardwood, wood-based panels, paper, paperboard and woodpulp. Other chapters analyse policies and markets for wood energy. Underlying the analysis is a comprehensive collection of data....

The purpose of this research was to identify and make available new and existing information to facilitate more effective response by individuals, organizations, and government entities when storms and other forms of catastrophic disturbance lead to unplanned influxes of downed timber and woody debris across the southeastern United States. To this end, this project explored attitudes and behaviors of stakeholders regarding their post disaster timber salvage experiences. Findings are reported from twelve focus group sessions with forestry decision makers, including landowners, loggers,...

Cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) were successfully produced from a bleach kraft eucalyptus pulp by a supermasscolloider. Effects of grinding time on structure and properties of CNF and the corresponding CNF films were investigated. Grinding time was important to increase the optical transparency of CNF suspensions. The degree of polymerization (DP) and crystallinity index (CrI) of CNF decreased linearly with the increase in CNF suspension transparency. This suggests optical transparency of a CNF suspension can be used to characterize the degree of fibrillation. Specific tensile strength and...

Fungi play a key role cycling nutrients in forest ecosystems but the mechanisms remain uncertain. To clarify the enzymatic processes involved in wood decomposition, metatranscriptomics and metaproteomics of extensively decayed lodgepole pine by RNAseq and LC-MS/MS, respectively. Following de novo metatranscriptome assembly, 52,011 were searched for functional domains and homology to database entries.

Disturbance-induced mortality events in forest ecosystems generate significant hotspots in biogeochemical cycles. These events occur sporadically across the landscape and contribute to large sources of error in terrestrial biosphere carbon models, which have yet to capture the full complexity of biotic and abiotic factors driving ecological processes in the terrestrial environment. The balance between production of stable soil organic matter and respiration from decomposing biomass greatly influences whether temperate forests remain modest carbon sinks or are transformed into carbon...

Burkholderia cepacia ATCC 17759, isolated from forest soils in Trinidad, accumulates large amounts of polyhydroxyalkanoate copolymers when grown on xy-lose, mannose, arabinose, other carbohydrates, and organic acid cosubstrates. This 8.72-Mb draft genome sequence of B. cepacia ATCC 17759 will provide better insight into this organism’s utility in lignocellulose bioconversion.

Wood-decaying fungi tend to have characteristic substrate ranges that partly define their ecological niche. Fomitopsis pinicola is a brown rot species of Polyporales that is reported on 82 species of softwoods and 42 species of hardwoods. We analyzed the gene expression levels and RNA editing profiles of F. pinicola from submerged cultures with ground wood powder (sampled at 5 days) or solid wood wafers (sampled at 10 and 30 days), using aspen, pine, and spruce substrates (aspen was used only in submerged cultures). Fomitopsis pinicola expressed similar sets of wood-degrading enzymes...