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Slot die coating with vacuum‐assist has been developed as a novel and scalable methodology for coating glass fiber fabrics as a pre‐step to composite fabrication. In particular, the slot die coating of cellulose nanocrystal suspension, a material which has been recognized as an emerging renewable material for fiber sizing, is subject to further exploration due to the limited scalability studies. In this paper, a multiscale computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model is developed, representing and combining separate 2D models of macroscale coating flow on top of the fabrics as well as microscal...

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), owing to their high crystallinity, thermal stability, and strong mechanical performance, serve as promising candidates for sustainable, high gas barrier packaging materials. However, their inherent moisture sensitivity and poor water resistance limit their practical applications. This study presents a strategy to overcome this limitation by constructing a network within CNC coating layers using 1,2,3,4-butanetetracarboxylic acid (BTCA) as a cross-linker and sodium hypophosphite (SHP) as a catalyst. The resulting cross-linked network had improved water...

Biochar derived from woody feedstocks is typically high in carbon, low in ash, and relatively low in nutrients compared with agricultural biochar, making it especially suitable for long-term carbon storage. Current evidence indicates that key functional properties for forestry applications include biochar yield, fixed carbon, pH, nutrient content, and porosity. Across studies, there is broad agreement that these properties are shaped by both feedstock and production conditions, particularly pyrolysis temperature and residence time. Yield and fixed carbon appear to be driven mainly by...

Quantitative width distributions of cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) are difficult to obtain from microscopy when fibrils are highly branched and entangled, and when manual measurements rely on sparse sampling and subjective fibril selection. Here we present FACT (Fibril Analysis for Cellulose Technology), a semi-automated image-analysis framework that extracts length-weighted fibril width distributions from negative-contrast scanning electron microscopy (NegC-SEM) images. FACT uses machine-learning segmentation (either the ImageJ Weka plugin or a U-Net convolutional neural network) to...

This study investigates the effects of chemically functionalized cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) coatings on glass fiber (GF)‐epoxy laminate properties. Different types of modified CNCs, including sulfated, ion‐exchanged with MePh 3 P, silylated with (3‐Aminopropyl)triethoxysilane, oxidized and oligomerized with tannic acid, and grafted with hexadecylamine, are slot die coated onto unidirectional GF fabrics prior to laminate fabrication. The CNC coatings are examined using scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and contact angle measurements to evaluate the...

Developing green, sustainable, and high-performance cellulose-based paper materials to replace single-use plastic packaging is both promising and essential to meet consumer demands and industry targets for renewable packaging. Herein, a novel starch-cellulose nanofibril multilayer coated paper with excellent oxygen and improved water vapor barrier properties was developed. Starch was used as a base layer to fill the porous structure of the paper, thereby reducing the amount of functional TEMPO-mediated oxidized cellulose nanofibrils (TCNFs) required to achieve oxygen barrier properties....

The Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) national forest inventory estimates site productivity for every forested plot. In the Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the site class is not estimated because data are not collected on site trees due to the lack of both annual growth rings and growth and yield references, so default values are assigned. We calculated site productivity values by island, forest type and major soil taxon, stand characteristics by these same strata, and explore hurricane impacts. Generally, stand density measures decreased from drier to wetter forest types, while...

The construction sector increasingly emphasizes renewable materials like wood from sustainably managed forests due to wood’s low embodied carbon and carbon storage potential, contributing to climate change mitigation. This study applies life cycle assessment (LCA) to evaluate the environmental impact of softwood lumber manufacturing in New Brunswick, Canada. Data were gathered from a local softwood sawmill through survey questionnaires and on-site visits, capturing details on raw material extraction, production processes, and fuel sources used to power the sawmill. A life-cycle inventory...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program provides this resource update yearly as an overview of forest resources in Tennessee. These estimates are derived from field data collected across a systematic network of fixed-radius forest monitoring plots located on both public and private land. New updates are provided annually as a subset of plots within the State are remeasured. Each year, field crews visit and measure a subset of all FIA plots across the entire State (the size of the subset varies by State and year). Combining all...

Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been widely used in food packaging due to their thermal and liquid resistance; however, health and environmental concerns have driven efforts to develop safer alternatives. This study investigates the production of PFAS-free molded pulp trays using a pilot-scale fiber molding system scalable for industrial applications. The process involves vacuum-assisted fiber deposition, membrane prepress dewatering, and hot pressing. Process parameters were first optimized using a formulation of bleached hardwood kraft pulp, bio-based wax, alkyl ketene dimer, and...