Volume 10 Issue 3

A high reactivity is an essential prerequisite for dissolving pulp. In this study, xylanase modification to increase the reactivity of bamboo dissolving pulp was investigated. The original reactivity of a bamboo dissolving pulp prepared by a prehydrolysis kraft pulping process and bleached by (OP)-H-P (oxygen delignification enhanced with peroxide – sodium hypochlorite – peroxide) is very low. The reactivity of the pulp was increased drastically after xylanase modification, which lowered the pulp’s pentosan content. Simultaneously, the crystallinity index of the dissolving pulp decreased slightly after xylanase modification. The microscopic appearance of the fiber surfaces changed slightly. The average curl and kink indices were lower at a xylanase charge of 1.0 IU/g compared to the other charges, while changes to the yield loss and the degree of polymerization were negligible. The mechanism for the increased pulp reactivity is discussed.

Substantial quantities of senile coconut palms are present in plantations within the Asia-Pacific region. Once coconut palms become over-mature, their production of traditional products, such as coconuts, significantly decreases, resulting in profitability challenges for farmers. Presently, few profitable markets exist for over-mature, senile coconut palms. Using the coconut palm stem in composite or engineered wood products could, however, provide an attractive alternative. Due to some of its unique characteristics, a processing system able to recover wood from the high-density zone near the stem periphery is desirable. A series of rotary veneer laboratory trials were undertaken to establish fundamental benchmark lathe settings and veneering characteristics for coconut palm stems. Different pressure bar configurations, billet pre-treatment temperatures, and veneer thicknesses were tested, and the resulting cutting forces and veneer quality were assessed. Optimal setting recommendations for peeling coconut wood are provided.

A new method is presented for quantitative evaluation of hybrid aspen genotype xylem morphology and immunolabeling micro-distribution. This method can be used as an aid in assessing differences in genotypes from classic tree breeding studies, as well as genetically engineered plants. The method is based on image analysis, multivariate statistical evaluation of light, and immunofluorescence microscopy images of wood xylem cross sections. The selected immunolabeling antibodies targeted five different epitopes present in aspen xylem cell walls. Twelve down-regulated hybrid aspen genotypes were included in the method development. The 12 knock-down genotypes were selected based on pre-screening by pyrolysis-IR of global chemical content. The multivariate statistical evaluations successfully identified comparative trends for modifications in the down-regulated genotypes compared to the unmodified control, even when no definitive conclusions could be drawn from individual studied variables alone. Of the 12 genotypes analyzed, three genotypes showed significant trends for modifications in both morphology and immunolabeling. Six genotypes showed significant trends for modifications in either morphology or immunocoverage. The remaining three genotypes did not show any significant trends for modification.

This study aims to complement previous studies on down-regulation of sucrose synthase and cinnamate 4-hydroxylase in hybrid aspen (Bjurhager et al. 2010; Gerber et al. 2014) with a quantitative anatomical comparison (Sandquist et al. 2015). The main focus was placed on evaluating quantitative modifications to fiber morphology and lignin composition. This was achieved by combining results from light-, electron-, and UV-microscopy together with histochemical staining. Overall there was good agreement between the morphological results in this study compared to the previously published chemical and physical reports, particularly on cinnamate 4-hydroxylase down-regulated aspen. The previously reported statistical correlations between fiber lumen area and plant diameter, and fiber length and tree height (Sandquist et al. 2015) have been further refined. Knock-down of genes coding for biologically important proteins such as sucrose synthase and cinnamate 4-hydroxylase had broad spanning morphological impacts. Down-regulated sucrose synthase genotype showed significantly reduced fiber development, possibly with altered S/G ratio. Down-regulated cinnamate 4-hydroxylase genotype showed an overall reduction of lignin in fibers as indicated from both chemical staining and UV-microscopy measurements. Down-regulated pectate lyase genotype showed no overall significant effects on fiber morphology, ultrastructural, nor lignin staining.

Cellulosic fibers from cotton fibers (CF), recycled writing papers (RWP), recycled newspapers (RN), and macerated woody fibers of Leucaena leucocephala (MWFL) were acetylated by heterogeneous reactions with glacial acetic acid, concentrated H2SO4, and acetic anhydride. The resultant cellulose triacetate (CTA) was characterized for yield and solubility as well as by using 1H-NMR spectroscopy and SEM. The acetylated product (AP) yields for CF, RWP, RN, and MWFL were 112, 94, 84, and 73%, respectively. After isolation of pure CTA from the AP, the CTA yields were 87, 80, 68, and 54%. The solubility test for the CTA’s showed a clear solubility in chloroform, as well as mixture of chloroform and methanol (9:1v/v) and vice versa for acetone. The degree of substitution (DS) values for the CTA’s produced were nearly identical and confirmed the presence of CTA. In addition, the pore diameter of the CTA skeleton ranged from 0.072 to 0.239 µm for RWP and RN, and within the dimension scale of the CTA pinholes confirm the synthesis of CTA. Accordingly, pouring of the AP liquor at 25 °C in distilled water at the end of the acetylation and filtration did not hydrolyze the CTA to cellulose diacetate.

To blaze new trails for utilizing forestry processing residue, higher plant content biocomposites were proposed based on a combination of moso bamboo flour/silane KH550/high density polyethylene (HDPE), and the materials were characterized by diffractometry, spectroscopy, microscopy, and calorimetry. During surface modification, reactions between bamboo and silane occurred on the lignin aldehyde group. After 6 wt% KH550 treatment, crystallinity of bamboo was increased by 1.11 %, and melting temperature and enthalpy of the composite rose by 2.37 °C and 5.27 J/g, agreeing with improved interface morphology. Increasing in thickness from 3 to 9 mm, the physical and mechanical properties of composite were improved overall. Bamboo content caused the biggest influence, while thickness swelling exhibited the greatest susceptibility. Increasing the bamboo ratio boosted flexural and tensile properties, but it compromised toughness and water resistance, while silane and moulding parameters featured complicated relationships regarding performances. Combining an artificial neural network (ANN), KH550 3 wt%, moulding temperature of 180 °C, and a time of 8 min endowed 9 mm composites of 70 wt% bamboo with performance comparable to load bearing MDF in GB/T 11718. This research helped establish the first “Bamboo Plastic Composite” standard proposed by the authors for the Chinese forestry industry.

Response surface methodology was employed to determine the effects of enzymatic pretreatment temperature, time, and pH on the reducing sugar content and bonding strength of soy-based adhesives (SBAs). Plywood specimens bonded by the SBAs with Pinus massoniana veneer were then produced. A significant positive correlation was observed between reducing sugar content and the bonding strength of SBAs. The effects of pretreatment temperature and time on bonding strength were also significant, but insignificant with respect to reducing sugar content; the effects of enzymatic pretreatment time on response values were the smallest. The optimal enzymatic pretreatment conditions of SBA were a pretreatment temperature of 54 °C, a pretreatment time of 20.0 min, and a pretreatment pH of 5.1. Under these conditions, the reducing sugar content and bonding strength (boiling-water test) of SBAs were 2.93% and 0.62 MPa, which were higher than the control by 113.9% and 30.6%, respectively. X-ray diffraction (XRD) indicated that the ordered degree of soy protein decreased, but the ordered structure had no variation when defatted soy flour was treated by enzymes with combination of acid, salt, and alkali. The SBAs contain more active functional groups and have better water resistance after curing.

The present research studied the acoustic properties of 40 oak timber samples (Quercus castaneifolia): the acoustic coefficient (K) and acoustic conversion efficiency (ACE) in free vibration mode, using the free-free bar method with different planes of vibration, i.e., tangential (LT) and radial (LR). These acoustic parameters were considered for both primary virgin wooden beams and modified beams carrying a single scarf joint in four different bonding angles (60°, 65°, 70°, and 75°), individually glued with two different adhesives (isocyanate and polyvinyl acetate). Comparing the acoustic properties of primary solid beams with scarf jointed beams of oak wood in LT and LR planes, the steeper joint angles of 70° and 75° did not result in any serious changes with polyvinyl acetate adhesive. Scarf-jointed beams with smaller joint angles (60° and 65°) had significant effect on the acoustic properties relative to larger angles. Thus, beams having larger joint angles and beams glued using polyvinyl acetate may have enhanced acoustic properties.

The financial and environmental performance of the National Renewable Energy Lab’s (NREL) thermochemical and biochemical biofuel conversion processes are examined herein with pine, eucalyptus, unmanaged hardwood, switchgrass, and sweet sorghum. The environmental impacts of the process scenarios were determined by quantifying greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and TRACI impacts. Integrated financial and environmental performance metrics were introduced and used to examine the biofuel production scenarios. The thermochemical and biochemical conversion processes produced the highest financial performance and lowest environmental impacts when paired with pine and sweet sorghum, respectively. The high ash content of switchgrass and high lignin content of loblolly pine lowered conversion yields, resulting in the highest environmental impacts and lowest financial performance for the thermochemical and biochemical conversion processes, respectively. Biofuel produced using the thermochemical conversion process resulted in lower TRACI single score impacts and somewhat lower GHG emissions per megajoule (MJ) of fuel than using the biochemical conversion pathway. The cost of carbon mitigation resulting from biofuel production and corresponding government subsidies was determined to be higher than the expected market carbon price. In some scenarios, the cost of carbon mitigation was several times higher than the market carbon price, indicating that there may be other more cost-effective methods of reducing carbon emissions.

Bleached spruce sulfate pulp was used in this study to produce paper handsheets. Ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid (EDTA ( was introduced as a chelating agent in concentrations of 0, 0.25, 0.5, and 0.75%. The handsheets were exposed to UV light at wavelengths ranging from 330 to 440 nm, with time intervals of 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 h. Finally, the strength properties were measured based on ISO standards. The strength indices of the handsheets were improved by adding the proper concentration of EDTA chelating agent, in comparison with the control sample. Furthermore, increasing the aging time reduced the breaking length, tear strength, folding endurance, burst strength, and tensile strength. Tear index, tensile strength, tearing strength, bursting strength, and folding endurance were decreased respectively by 41.9, 3.1, 28.2, 29.7, and 8.6 percent without EDTA treatment by increasing the aging time.