The article “Effects of Wheat Protein as a Biological Binder in the Manufacture of Particleboards Using a Mixture of Canola, Hemp, Bagasse, and Commercial Wood” by Neda Nikvash, Alireza Kharazipour, and Markus Euring, Forest Products Journal 62(1):49-57, contained instances of missing or incorrect information. The first full sentence in the second column on p. 50 should read “Also, formaldehyde (methanal [HCHO]) values of the particleboards were determined by the perforator method but not published.” The fifth sentence under “Board manufacture” on p. 50 was missing information and should instead read “Resins including pure UF for the middle layers,
The financial crisis that started in mid-2008 has led to a subsequent economic recession. Although officially declared over, global financial degradation may result in a “double-dip” recession with no substantive relief in the near future. Consequently, fundamental shifts within global forestry and the forest industry sectors have taken place with disruptions, dislocations, and uncertainties felt through the entire chain from the forest to markets. This is the worst downturn for forest products markets since the first oil crisis in the 1970s. Manifestations have included decreased demand, fluctuating prices and changed exchange rates, increased competition, overcapacity, low profitability, wood supply problems, and competition for raw materials exacerbated by the emerging bio-based energy sector. Although the ability of the forest sector as a whole to experience strong growth during the recession and when recovery begins is doubtful, there are many actions that individual companies can take to create competitive opportunities during the crisis and solidify position when markets strengthen. This article presents specific actions that can be taken to create or maintain competitive advantage across the forest sector supply chain in this time of crisis.ABSTRACT
This article presents changes in proportions of wood fiber residue or by-products generated in lumber production in the western United States over the last 40 years. The results show the proportion of logs remaining as residue has dropped from 59 percent in the 1970s to 51 percent in the 2000s. Technology and its improved application have led to decreased proportions of wood fiber residue in lumber production even as log size has decreased. West wide the proportion of the log converted to both sawdust and planer shavings has decreased substantially over the last 40 years with no change in the proportion recovered in coarse residue. Coarse residue was 31 percent of log volume processed in the 1970s and 2000s. Sawdust generated was 15 percent of log volume in the 1970s and 11 percent in the 2000s, with planer shavings moving from 13 to 9 percent.Abstract
Cracks in softwood are an important defect that reduces the quality of sawn timber for construction purposes. As with all other quality reducing features in wood, it is of significant interest to know about their number and position in a log before sawing. On one hand, cracks are relatively easy to distinguish from wood by means of computer tomographic (CT) scanning owing to the large differences in density. The fact that they tend to be irregular and very thin, however, complicates detection. This study describes a method for automated crack detection in single CT slices and evaluates its precision in terms of both detection rate and length measurement. Twenty tree discs were sampled from spruce (Picea abies) and silver fir (Abies alba) logs and scanned with a computer tomograph. The results of the automated detection are compared with data from manual reference measurements on the physical discs and with data from visual inspection of the CT images. Under optimal conditions, the detection rate is 84 percent. The average underestimation of crack length is 18 mm for heart checks and 15 mm for radial checks. There is no sharp threshold of crack width that limits the detection. The overall precision of this crack detection method can be seen as sufficient for practical purposes, when the standard errors in length measurement are considered.Abstract
Moisture management, through storage and drying in the supply chain between harvesting and use, is key to improving both transportation costs and market values of woody biomass. Storage can take place at sites within the forest or in off-forest storage yards. A model for predicting the moisture content of Sitka spruce roundwood and energy wood under an open, off-forest, environment was developed for Ireland. Experimental data for the model were gathered over a 16-month period beginning in April 2007. The major factors affecting biomass moisture content change are cumulative precipitation and evapotranspiration (ET0), biomass type, and type of cover. ET0 was computed using the FAO Penman-Monteith method, which requires temperature, solar radiation, wind, and relative humidity data. The model was easily used in a spreadsheet to estimate drying times for different locations in Ireland, different starting seasons for drying, different biomass types, and different types of cover. The model should not be used for estimating drying times for in-forest biomass storage because it will overestimate drying rates considerably.Abstract
Wood compression is a method of increasing the density and stiffness of wood. Using heat (thermal compression) or impregnating wood with various resins can also increase its dimensional stability. Compressed wood can be used as a structural component in buildings, but it generally must be painted to improve its durability. The objective of this research was to investigate the surface wettability and water uptake behavior of compressed poplar wood with and without melamine-formaldehyde resin impregnation in order to be able to predict the behavior of resins or paints on surfaces of compressed wood. Samples of poplar wood were pressed both in the presence of resin and without resin at 180°C for 30 minutes under different pressures (0 to 8 MPa). Compression ratios were 10, 20, and 50 percent, depending on the pressure. Results indicate that the surface contact angle of the compressed wood, without resin, increased as the compression ratio increased. The water absorption of compressed wood, without resin, was much higher than that of the compressed wood with resin treatment. Also, the amount of absorbed water in the direction of the grain was greater than that in the perpendicular-to-grain direction for both compressed wood samples.Abstract
Sanding is an important process in furniture production. Components with unconventional shapes are usually sanded by hand rather than by machine because heavy sanding makes machine sanding more difficult. However, manual sanding is inefficient and costly. Thus, a machine capable of sanding unconventionally shaped surfaces is needed. In this study, we defined the cumulative sanding length L of a brush sander and built a numerical simulation model of L to analyze the problem of heavy sanding during surface brush sanding of specially shaped wood products. Based on our analysis of the motion and sanding process of a sander roller, we propose that the sanding strip should be bent when sanding flat surfaces and straight when sanding bulging surfaces. We also analyzed the effects of specific sanding parameters and the causes of heavy sanding. This research shows the following results: L increases with increasing theoretical contact length, the radius and rotational speed of the sander roller are proportional to L, feed rate is inversely proportional to L, and the L of a bulging point is 7.5 times greater than that of a flat surface. This difference is the main cause of heavy sanding, which is, in turn, mainly caused by different sanding strip patterns used when various parts of the component are sanded. This study provides a theoretical basis for using surface brush sanding for specially shaped wood products.Abstract
Southern yellow pine (Pinus taeda) wood char powder was thermally treated at 1,000°C in the presence of a 25-nm-size Fe nanoparticle catalyst. The thermally treated carbon materials were analyzed by Raman spectroscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. Well-aligned graphitic carbon structures with 15 to 17 layers on average were observed. These graphitic carbon structures were similar to those of graphite with an average interplanar distance of 0.34 nm. The Raman spectra results showed that the full-width half-maximum values of Raman G and D bands, and the peak intensity ratio, ID″/IG, of thermally treated pine char after an acid purification treatment were 69 cm−1, 126 cm−1, and 0.16, respectively.Abstract
Pentachlorophenol (PCP) is widely used as a wood preservative for utility poles and other wood products. It has been proposed that a modified PCP carrier system based on a diesel/biodiesel mixture should be used in place of the conventional diesel/KB3 carrier, but questions exist as to whether this modified carrier system can provide the same service life as wood products treated with PCP/diesel/KB3. The main objective of this research was to evaluate the comparative decay resistance of wood treated with carrier formulations containing either diesel/KB3 or diesel/biodiesel. A 2-year efficacy study using an accelerated soil contact decay test was initiated to compare the performance of southern yellow pine wood treated with the conventional diesel/KB3 carrier and a modified diesel/biodiesel carrier, both with and without PCP. The residual hydrocarbon levels, PCP reduction, toxicity, and leaching of PCP of the samples remained approximately at the same level for treatments with similar PCP retention values for both carriers. For wood treated with PCP in these two different carriers, there was no evidence of differences in the average modulus of elasticity. Overall, this study recommends long-term field stake tests to determine the practical significance of these results.Abstract
Bio-oils from loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) and white oak (Quercus alba) wood were produced by the laboratory scale auger reactor located at the Department of Forest Products, Mississippi State University (MSU). The bio-oils were esterified to boiler fuel by a technology developed at MSU. The testing of esterified bio-oil combustion was performed at Natchez Trace Greenhouses located in Kosciusko, Mississippi. At the greenhouse facility an idled natural gas/diesel boiler was retrofit with a highly aerated fuel injection system. Fifteen gallons of loblolly pine esterified boiler fuel and 15 gallons of white oak boiler fuel were successfully combusted in the retrofit boiler.Abstract
In this study, bark-based insulation boards were made out of pine (Pinus sylvestris) bark. Their properties seem to be promising with regard to thermal conductivity, heat storage capacity, and mechanical characteristics. The influences of panel density, resin content, and particle size on the relevant board properties were studied, showing that it is possible to produce comparatively light (<500 kg/m3) bark boards for thermal insulation. In particular, the panels' heat storage capacity is superior to commonly known insulation materials. For this reason bark-based insulation panels could probably be used efficiently for civil engineering purposes and insulation applications in general.Abstract