Research Articles

A microwave (MW) treatment of plantation eucalyptus (Eucalyptus urophylla) wood was investigated by applying MW treatments with varying conditions, such as radiation power, irradiation time, and initial moisture content of the wood. The wood permeability and drying properties were investigated. Results show that the permeability (both along the transverse and longitudinal directions) increased with the radiation power and the irradiation time. The permeability was considerably enhanced by the MW pretreatments, which effectively decreased the moisture content within the wood. A MW pretreatment can greatly accelerate the drying rate and shorten the wood drying time. Under atmospheric pressure the stain uptake along the transverse and longitudinal directions, with respect to the wood fibers, increased to 58% and 135%, respectively, compared to reference samples. Meanwhile, the drying rate increased to 171% and the drying time was cut by 65%. The MW pretreatment was found to generate a high-pressure internal steam that resulted in the rupture of wood cell pore membranes and ray cells. Therefore, a remarkable permeability increase and drying time reduction was achieved, which created favorable conditions for the fabrication of high value-added functional wood-based composites materials.

Bio-treated pulping wastewater (BTPW) was further treated using a combination of ozonation and biotreatment processes. The effect of ozonation on chemical oxygen demand (CODCr) removal and biodegradability enhancement of the BTPW was investigated. The results showed that the ozonation was effective for degrading the pollutants in the BTPW and improving its biodegradability. The CODCr removal reached approximately 34.8%, and the BOD/COD ratio increased from less than 0.15 to 0.36, after ozonation for 30 min. The raw BTPW biodegrades poorly, and treatment using a combination of ozonation with biotreatment could eliminate most of the refractory substances from the BTPW. The CODCr removal rates of the BTPW were 55.4% and 64.3% for the treatments using ozonation for 30 or 60 min, respectively, before subsequent biotreatment for 14 days. The CODCr removal rates were higher than that of the biological treatment alone by 44.7% and 53.6%, respectively.

The acetic acid pretreatment of wood chips has become one of the most promising technologies for biorefinery. This study aimed to provide a quantitative evaluation of the porosity variation during pretreatment based on the fractal dimension methodology. The acacia wood sample was pretreated by acetic acid under different temperatures (140 °C to 170 °C), followed by a three-stage disc-refining at high consistency, and was subsequently characterized by the low-temperature nitrogen adsorption method. The detailed data related to the fractal dimension were obtained by two well-established methods, namely, the Yu Boming (YBM) fractal and Frenkel Halsey Hill (FHH) fractal method. Both the acetic acid pretreatment and disc refining resulted in a higher fractal dimension, which indicated increased irregularity of the pore structure. The mechanism behind the temperature’s effect, where the higher temperature led to a lower fractal dimension, was also explored. Compared to the FHH dimension, the fitting range of the YBM dimension was wider and it had a lower correlation coefficient.

The use of macadamia shells (MSs) has become an active research direction because of increasing production. This paper considers the combustion characteristics of MSs and their biochars that were investigated with thermogravimetry analysis (TGA). Combustion thermographs were obtained at different heating rates, using isoconversional methods expressed by combustion kinetics. The Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose (KAS) method authenticated the MSs, MSs-300, and MSs-600 average activation energy at 91.6 kJ/mol, 60.5 kJ/mol, and 50.1 kJ/mol, respectively. The Flynn-Wall-Ozawa (FWO) method authenticated these at 97.1 kJ/mol, 68.7 kJ/mol, and 59.5, kJ/mol. The Coats-Redfern method verified the samples combustion via a complex multi-step mechanism; the first stage mechanism had different activation energies at different heating rates. With increased heating rates, the activation energies of biochar decreased, and the activation energies of MSs for the second combustion zone also decreased. At the same heating rate, MSs-600 had higher activation energy values than MSs-300. The TGA curves and kinetic parameters demonstrated the superiority of the biochar derived MSs as a fuel substrate over its precursor.

Lignocellulosic biomass, such as corn bran, has limited accessibility to solvents during thermal-chemical processes. However, a pretreatment can help to change the characteristics of the raw material and improve the yield of the polysaccharides. A twin-screw extrusion pretreatment was developed to enhance the polysaccharide yield and decrease the optimum temperature and time during the hydrothermal treatment of corn bran. The effects of temperature and time on the polysaccharide yield were investigated during the hydrothermal treatment with pretreated and unpretreated corn bran. All samples were comparatively analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and thermogravimetric analysis to investigate the changes in the chemical and physical characteristics. The results showed that the twin-screw extrusion pretreatment changed the main physical structure and thermochemical behavior of corn bran, which confirmed that it could enhance the polysaccharide yield and decrease the optimum treatment temperature and reduce the process duration. The pretreatment and the hydrothermal treatment temperature also had a synergetic effect on extraction yield and the composition of polysaccharide fractions of corn bran compared to the unpretreated sample. This study contributes to the knowledge improvement of corn bran pretreatments, which can be used for the efficient production of polysaccharides.

The fiber quality after a conventional drying treatment used for wood-plastic composites (WPCs) cannot be ascertained prior to use. Through the application of scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction, the effect of an impulse-cyclone drying (ICD) treatment on the quality of poplar wood fiber was first investigated. Subsequently, the effect of ICD conditions, such as inlet temperature, inlet wind velocity, and feed rate on the mechanical properties of WPCs and fiber dispersibility was considered. Also, the quality of fibers and WPCs was compared to those treated via an oven-drying method. Poplar wood fibers with a moisture content of 12.4% were pre-treated at different drying conditions by ICD. The obtained fibers were compounded with high-density polypropylene. The results showed that ICD could promote the hydration of poplar wood fibers and improve the mechanical properties of WPCs. The ICD-treated wood fibers were uniformly dispersed in the plastic matrix. With the increase of inlet temperature, the number of hydroxyl and carbonyl groups of poplar fibers decreased, whereas the degree of crystallinity increased as the in-let temperature and fiber meshes was increased. This study demonstrated the feasibility for the application of an ICD treatment in the WPCs production industry.

To improve the adhesion properties, the surfaces of polyethylene wood plastic composites (WPCs) were treated by a combination of sanding then coating with a silane coupling agent, followed by plasma discharge. The surface properties of polyethylene WPCs were studied by assessing the contact angle and bonding strength, as well as implementing Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The results indicated that the roughness of the composites increased during the combined treatment, when compared with the untreated composites. The content of the oxygen elements on the surfaces of the combined treated composites also was found to increase. This indicated that there were polar groups formed, such as –OH, –C=O, and –O–C=O. The surface wettability of the composites improved after the combined treatment. At the same time, chemical bonding between the coupling agent and the wood fibers of the sanding-treated composites occurred. The surface properties of the polyethylene WPCs were changed by the combined treatment, which became favorable for adhesiveness. After the combined treatment, the shear strength and durability of the bonding joints of the composite increased significantly and displayed a synergistic effect from the surface treatment.

A material description was established for oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) fibre waste for microwave absorber applications by determining its dielectric properties with respect to fibre size and frequency. The proposed OPEFB material was studied at frequencies from 1 to 4 GHz. The study was conducted using the open-ended coaxial probe (OECP) HP85071C technique. The effect of microwave frequency on complex permittivity properties for powdered OPEFB and compressed OPEFB with different particle sizes (100, 200, 300, 400, and 500 μm) were investigated. Results showed that the microwave frequency and particle size significantly influenced the complex permittivity (real and imaginary) properties of the samples. Moreover, the complex permittivity decreased as the powder fibre size increased. The complex permittivity of the smallest and largest powder fibre sizes (100 and 500 μm) were (2.050 − j 0.197) and (1.934 − j 0.137), respectively; and the complex permittivity of the smallest and largest compressed OPEFB fibre sizes (100 and 500 μm) were (3.799 − j0.603) and (3.326 − j0.486), respectively. The compressed OPEFB complex permittivity was higher than that of the OPEFB powder.