Review Articles
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- Reviewpp 7889-7901De Araujo, V. A., Cortez-Barbosa, J., Gava, M., Garcia, J. N., Souza, A. J., Savi, A. F., Morales, E. A. M., Molina, J. C., Vasconcelos, J. S., Christoforo, A. L., and Lahr , F. A. R. (2016)."Classification of wooden housing building systems," BioRes. 11(3), 7889-7901.AbstractArticlePDF
Wooden housing is one of the most sustainable building alternatives. In many European and North American countries, wooden houses provide the most common, economical, and practical solution for construction. The timber buildings present adequate levels of durability, acoustics, and thermal comforts. Despite their popularity, wood houses do not have a standardized classification to define and organize their main aspects. In literature dealing with timber construction, most authors emphasize structural systems for large spans (bridges, hangars, roofs, etc.). The presence of some classifications of timber construction results in unclear issues, and few studies have covered and regarded wooden buildings as residential construction typologies. Accordingly, this paper proposes a classification that connects the aspects and details of wooden housing materials in relation to the industrialization level and chronological origin. We expect this classification to assist in a better understanding of distinct wooden housing techniques commercially produced worldwide, diffusing their concepts and possibilities as forestry-timber products.
- Reviewpp 7902-7916Liu, Y., Shi, L., Cheng, D., and He, Z. (2016). "Dissolving pulp market and technologies: Chinese prospective - A mini-review," BioRes. 11(3), 7902-7916.AbstractArticlePDF
Cellulose is the most abundant natural polymer on earth. As the market and the public demands more and more natural products, cellulose and its derivatives are becoming increasingly more attractive. The production of dissolving pulp, which is the main feedstock for cellulose-related products, has been growing over the past decade, while the technologies for manufacturing these pulps have also been advanced. In this literature review, the production and consumption of dissolving pulp are analyzed with a focus on the Chinese market. The manufacturing processes, including raw materials, pulping methods, pulp bleaching, and post-treatments are discussed.
- Reviewpp 7917-7927Wu, C. (2016). "The potential of pre-hydrolysis liquor from the dissolving pulp process as recovery source of xylooligosaccharide - A mini-review," BioRes. 11(3), 7917-7927.AbstractArticlePDF
Currently, xylooligosaccharides (XOs), which are a kind of nutraceutical that can be produced from lignocellulosic biomass, have an important place in the global market. In this critical review the raw materials and manufacturing methods of XOs are briefly considered. The results in some publications indicate that the pre-hydrolysis liquor (PHL) from dissolving pulp process is a potential source of XOs. However, it is very difficult to separate and further remove the lignin in PHL, which is detrimental to the separation and further purification of XOs. Based on these problems, a number of important aspects with respect to PHL, including industrial treatment technologies, composition, and lignin removal technologies, are described in this review. In addition, some XOs purification technologies in PHL are also introduced.
- Reviewpp 7928-7952Singh, D., Cubbage, F., Gonzalez, R., and Abt, R. (2016). "Locational determinants for wood pellet plants: A review and case study of North and South America," BioRes. 11(3), 7928-7952.AbstractArticlePDF
The European Union’s Renewable Energy Directive has led many electricity producers in Europe to use wood pellets in place of fossil fuels. North America has become one of the primary suppliers of wood pellets to Europe. This paper critically examines literature, economic models and data, as well as the supply chain and country risk factors, related to wood pellet production to anticipate where North and South American pellet mills should be built to meet Europe’s demand. Canada, the United States, and Brazil maintain the largest natural forest area, planted forest area, and industrial roundwood production; however, South American countries achieve faster plantation growth rates. The World Bank’s Logistic Procurement Index and IHS’s Country Risk Index were used to score and rank countries’ investment climates, based on their supply chain and risk factors. In this regard, the United States, Canada, and Chile performed best, in contrast to Venezuela, Bolivia, and Ecuador. When considering both wood supply and investment climates, the United States, Canada, and Chile were the most attractive countries to build a pellet mill, while countries, such as Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Paraguay, and Peru present significant trade-offs between having significant wood resources and riskier investment climates.
- Reviewpp 7953-8091Hubbe, M. A., Metts, J. R., Hermosilla, D., Blanco, M. A., Yerushalmi, L., Haghighat, F., Lindholm-Lehto, P., Khodaparast, Z., Kamali, M., and Elliott, A. (2016). "Wastewater treatment and reclamation: A review of pulp and paper industry practices and opportunities," BioRes. 11(3), 7953-8091.AbstractArticlePDF
The pulp and paper (P&P) industry worldwide has achieved substantial progress in treating both process water and wastewater, thus limiting the discharge of pollutants to receiving waters. This review covers a variety of wastewater treatment methods, which provide P&P companies with cost-effective ways to limit the release of biological or chemical oxygen demand, toxicity, solids, color, and other indicators of pollutant load. Conventional wastewater treatment systems, often comprising primary clarification followed by activated sludge processes, have been widely implemented in the P&P industry. Higher levels of pollutant removal can be achieved by supplementary treatments, which can include anaerobic biological stages, advanced oxidation processes, bioreactors, and membrane filtration technologies. Improvements in the performance of wastewater treatment operations often can be achieved by effective measurement technologies and by strategic addition of agents including coagulants, flocculants, filter aids, and optimized fungal or bacterial cultures. In addition, P&P mills can implement upstream process changes, including dissolved-air-flotation (DAF) systems, filtration save-alls, and kidney-like operations to purify process waters, thus reducing the load of pollutants and the volume of effluent being discharged to end-of-pipe wastewater treatment plants.
- Reviewpp 8092-8115Pan, M., Zhu, L., Chen, L., Qiu, Y., and Wang, J. (2016). "Detection techniques for extracellular polymeric substances in biofilms: A review" BioRes. 11(3), 8092-8115.AbstractArticlePDF
Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) are one of the main components of biofilm, prompting biofilm to form a cohesive three-dimensional framework. Numerous methods are available to help characterize the properties and the structural, chemical and physical organizations of EPS during the biofilm formation process. This review highlights key techniques from different disciplines that have been successfully applied in-situ and non-destructively to describe the complex composition and distribution of EPS in biofilm, especially microscopic, spectroscopic, and the combination of multi-disciplinary methods that can provide new insights into the complex structure/function correlations in biofilms. Among them, confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) is emphasized, and its principles, applications, advantages, and limitations are summarized. Multidisciplinary techniques have been developed and recommended to study EPS during the biofilm formation process, providing more in-depth insights into the composition and spatial distributions of EPS, so as to improve our understanding of the role EPS plays in biofilms ultimately.
- Reviewpp 10585-10603Jin, J., Chen, S., and Wellwood, R. (2016). "Oriented strand board: Opportunities and potential products in China," BioRes. 11(4), 10585-10603.AbstractArticlePDFNorth America’s first oriented strand board (OSB) mill was built in the early 1980’s. Twenty years later, the industry was thriving, with over 50 mills producing the product. China’s first OSB mill was built in 1990, and 25 years later, there are a few mills with a total capacity less than two large North America mills, most operating below capacity and struggling to identify domestic markets for the growing production. This paper briefly looks at the histories of OSB industries in North America and China, presents the current situation of China’s wood-based panels industry and its downstream industries, and identifies OSB opportunities and potential products in China. Opportunity for sheathing-grade OSB is very limited in the current Chinese market, whereas industrial opportunities for specialty OSB products to replace plywood have great potential. Those specialty products include materials for furniture, wood doors, wood flooring, container flooring, concrete form, etc. OSB producers must designate the right OSB products for the Chinese market and cost-effectively manufacture those differentiated products to meet specifications for various end-applications.
- Reviewpp 10604-10624Kaur, P. J., Satya, S., Pant, K. K., and Naik, S. N. (2016). "Eco-friendly preservation of bamboo species: Traditional to modern techniques," BioRes. 11(4), 10604-10624.AbstractArticlePDFThe continuous depletion of forests calls for the astute usage of existing resources. Fungi and termites cause serious damage to biomass under storage and service conditions. Various protective treatments with high amounts of toxic chemicals are used by the wood and bamboo industry. Efforts are being made the world over to develop environmentally friendly preservatives for wood and bamboo species. Recent research highlights the potential and effectiveness of traditional practices and procedures, mainly water leaching technique and smoke treatment. Under laboratory conditions, the service life of treated blocks were found to be at a par with commercial chemical preservative treated blocks. Various plant extracts and oil-based formulations, such as organic acids, essential oils, and eco-friendly chemical-based preservatives, are in the stage of development. The bio-efficacy of such preservatives is measured in terms of the improvement in resistance to fungi and termites. However, much work still needs to be done to completely determine the efficacy of many of these newly developed preservatives and techniques. The present paper discusses an overview of the developments in the field of environment-friendly biomass preservatives.
- Reviewpp 10625-10653Sarip, H., Sohrab Hossain, M., Azemi M. N., M., and Allaf, K. (2016). "A review of the thermal pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass towards glucose production: Autohydrolysis with DIC technology," BioRes. 11(4), 10625-10653.AbstractArticlePDFThere is increasing demand for the production of biofuels from lignocellulosic biomass. Lignocellulosic biomass consists mainly of three polymeric components: cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin. The separation of these components requires an effective pretreatment process to ensure high quality glucose production, and is highly influenced by several factors, including moisture content, cellulose crystallinity, lignin content, and available surface area. Over time, numerous pretreatment methods have been utilized to change the lignocellulosic fiber structure and to enhance the enzymatic saccharification of cellulose to polysaccharides. This article reviews thermal-based pretreatment of lignocellulosic fiber used for glucose production. Based on the reviewed studies, autohydrolysis of lignocellusic biomass, followed by the “Instant pressure drop (DIC),” method can be regarded as an effective pretreatment process of lignocellusic biomass.
- Reviewpp 10654-10676Md Shah, A. U., Sultan, M. T. H., Jawaid, M., Cardona, F., and Abu Talib, A. R. (2016). "A review on the tensile properties of bamboo fiber reinforced polymer composites," BioRes. 11(4), 10654-10676.AbstractArticlePDF
This paper reviews the tensile properties of bamboo fiber reinforced polymer composites (BFRP). Environmentally friendly bamboo fibers have good mechanical properties, which make them suitable replacements for conventional fibers, such as glass and carbon, in composite materials. Better fiber and matrix interaction results in good interfacial adhesion between fiber/matrix and fewer voids in the composite. Several important factors improve matrix-fiber bonding and enhance the tensile properties of BFRP. Coupling agents, such as maleic anhydride polypropylene (MAPP), improve the adhesion of bamboo fibers in the polypropylene (PP) matrix. A high percentage of lignin content in bamboo fibers limits fiber separation, which leads to less matrix absorption between fibers. Steam explosion is the best extraction method for bamboo fibers, although an additional mechanically rubbing process is required for fiber separation. Generally, high fiber content results in good composite performance, but at a certain limit, the matrix does not adhere well with a saturated amount of fibers, and the composite tensile strength decreases. However, the tensile modulus of BFRP is not affected by excess fiber content. Hybridization of bamboo with conventional fibers increases the tensile strength of BFRP. The addition of micro/nano-sized bamboo fibrils into the carbon fabric composites slightly enhances composite strength.