Volume 11 Issue 2

Furniture manufacturing in Malaysia is an established industry driven primarily by the availability of raw materials and labor. However, the industry suffers from the low-recovery rate of its materials, as it produces a substantial amount of waste during the manufacturing process. Although smaller waste fragments, or off-cuts, are recovered for other purposes, the splinters, shavings, and coarse dust have little economic value and are often discarded. Because wood is a well-established source of bioenergy, this study investigated the potential use of mill waste from the furniture-manufacturing industry for electrical energy generation. Waste from the rubberwood, bamboo, and rattan furniture industries was evaluated for its potential electrical energy generation, and the amount was compared with the electrical energy that was consumed by the furniture industry. The study also compared the emission of greenhouse gases from the combustion of these waste materials against fossil fuels used to generate electricity to assess its potential in terms of the environmental benefits. In conclusion, such mill waste could be utilized as substitute for fossil fuel to generate energy in the furniture industry.

Wood-based carbon fiber derived from liquefied wood has the disadvantages of low mechanical strength and unstable performance. To improve its mechanical properties, wood-based carbon fiber precursors were impregnated with 5 wt.% and 8 wt.% boric acid solutions for 1 h and then carbonized at 900 °C for 1 h. The effect of boron content on fiber tensile strength and microstructure was investigated through X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Raman spectroscopy. The tensile strength of wood-based carbon fibers impregnated with 5 wt.% boric acid reached 0.468 GPa, an increase of 44.89% compared with the untreated samples. In addition, the amount of graphitoidal crystal and the degree of graphitization increased with the boric impregnation. Furthermore, boron in the form of a boron-carbon solid solution in the graphene layer of carbon fibers effectively improved the tensile strength of wood-based carbon fibers.

To develop a wood-based electromagnetic shielding composite, in-situ electroless plating was used to plate nickel onto the surface of expanded graphite (EG) to obtain nickel-plated EG (Ni-EG), and the Ni-EG was mixed with wood fiber to manufacture the composite. The optimal plating formula was as follows: 20 g/L NiSO4·6H2O as the main salt, 60 g/L N2H4·H2O as the reducing agent, 50 g/L Na3C6H5O7·2H2O as the complexing agent, 40 g/L CH3COONa·H2O as the buffering agent, pH value 11, and a temperature of 90 °C. These conditions yielded the highest quality of nickel coating (3.57 g). As EG concentration increased from 2 to 10 g/L, the percentage of the Ni-EG in the composite was 60%, the thickness of the composite was 2 mm, the density was 0.9 g/cm3, the magnetic properties and resistivity of the Ni-EG decreased from 29.5 to 5.57 emu/g and 80.2 to 10.7 mΩ·cm, respectively, and the electromagnetic shielding effectiveness (SE) and the reflectivity of the composite increased from 55 to 60 dB and −3.6 to -1.8 dB, respectively. Consequently, the introduction of nickel is suitable for improving the absorbing performance of Ni-EG/wood fiber composites, leading to better SE in a broad frequency range.

Polysaccharides were isolated from Phyllostachys acuta leaves by microwave-assisted extraction under various temperatures and time. The obtained polysaccharides were characterized by acid hydrolysis, the Folin-Ciocalteu method, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The major monosaccharides presented in the extracts were arabinose (258.0 mg/g to 414.5 mg/g), galactose (167.0 mg/g to 289.2 mg/g), and glucose (157.4 mg/g to 246.7 mg/g) along with some mannose, fructose, and xylose. The total phenol yield of the bamboo leaves was 0.31 mg/g to 0.73 mg/g. The FTIR spectra revealed that the polysaccharides mostly consisted of β-glycosidic linkages. For the cytotoxicity, the presence of polysaccharides considerably elevated the multiplication of HepG2 cells and showed no growth inhibition for the samples. For the antioxidant activities, the polysaccharides exhibited excellent abilities both in the diphenyl picrylhydrazyl radical potential (DPPH) assay and ferric reducing antioxidant potential (FRAP) assay. The results suggest that bamboo leaf polysaccharides have great potential to be applied in the food, healthcare, and pharmaceutical fields.

A two-stage, pH- and temperature-controlled wheat bran fermentation method using Aureobasidium pullulans was investigated for feruloyl oligosaccharides (FOs) production and the activities of xylanase, xylosidase, and ferulic acid esterase (FAE). A. pullulans secreted xylanase, xylosidase, and FAE at high levels in the initial pH of 4.0 to 5.0 and a fermentation liquid temperature of 31 °C to 33 °C. FOs production via two-stage fermentation (FOs 2) reached 1123 nmol/L after fermentation for 96 h, by controlling the initial pH at 4.0 and the initial temperature at 33 °C, and then changing the pH to 6.0 and the temperature to 29 °C at the same time at 36 h. This process was 12 h shorter and 219 nmol/L higher than a one-stage fermentation for producing FOs 1. Xylanase, xylosidase, and FAE activities were highly correlated with controlled pH and temperature and FOs biosynthesis rate. Thus, the combination of two-stage controlled pH and temperature could support mass production of FOs.

The non-catalytic hydrothermal pretreatment of softwood is generally less effective for subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis. In this study, the efficacy of hot-compressed water (HCW) treatment of Douglas fir was investigated between 180 °C and 260 °C, allowing solubilization of the cellulose components. The enzymatic digestibility of cellulosic residues increased significantly under HCW conditions > 250 °C, and the enhanced glucan digestibility was closely related to the decomposition of the cellulose component. Combination of the first-stage HCW treatment (220 °C, 5 min) to recover hemicellulosic sugars with the second-stage HCW treatment (260 °C, 5 min) to improve cellulose digestibility gave a total sugar recovery of 56.2% based on the dried raw materials. This yield was 1.4 times higher than that from the one-step HCW-treated sample (260 °C, 5 min). Additionally, an enzymatic hydrolysate from the two-step HCW-treated sample exceeded 90% of the ethanol fermentation yield based on the total sugars present in the hydrolysates. These results suggest the potential of the two-step HCW treatment of softwood as a pretreatment technology for efficient total sugar recovery and ethanol production.

The saccharification of laccase-pretreated empty fruit bunch (EFB) was optimized in a lab-scale experiment using one-factor-at-a-time (OFAT) and response surface methodology (RSM). After pretreatment, the degree of delignification was checked by noting the weight loss (%) after pretreatment, and also by the quantity of total sugar produced after saccharification with cellulase enzyme. OFAT studies of saccharification of the pretreated EFB showed that the biomass was best saccharified using cellulase enzyme at the following conditions: enzyme concentration of 30 IU/g of EFB, substrate concentration of 5.0% w/v, 50 °C, saccharification time of 24 h, and pH 5. This combination exhibited the highest yield of total sugar (28% w/w). Although 29% w/w yield was achieved with an enzyme concentration of 40 IU/g of EFB, this increase in yield was not proportional to the increased enzyme concentration and, therefore, was considered insignificant. Statistical analysis of the combined effects of pH and temperature showed that pH had a more significant effect than the temperature on the saccharification process, based on a P < 0.05 significance level. The effect of pH on total sugar production was more significant than the temperature in both linear and quadratic functions. In sum, the saccharification of laccase-pretreated EFB should follow the optimized process conditions achieved in the current study.

The objective of this study was to determine a correlation between the dynamic modulus of elasticity (MOEd) and the static modulus of elasticity (MOEs), and to assess the potential of using nondestructive (NDT) methods as a grading tool for both treated and untreated wood exposed to weathering. In the experiment, test samples made from spruce and oak were exposed for four months to natural weathering. Half of the specimens were treated with a silicon-based nano-protection. The MOEd was determined using acoustic NDT methods–ultrasound transmission (MOEdu) and the vibration methods (MOEdv), while the MOEs was determined by a destructive three-point bending test. The results showed that there was no statistical significance for the influence of the time of exposure and the surface treatment on the modulus of elasticity. The ultrasound method, measured in the longest distance of the sample, had the most significant correlation with the MOEs. The vibration method also reached a similar correlation with the MOEs. The mean values of the MOEdu and MOEdv were higher than the MOEs. The influence of density on the acoustic wave velocity was not confirmed.

This research introduces one of the most important historic constructions in Gorgan, namely, the House of Bagheri, placing an emphasis on wooden materials, noting that a considerable amount of solid wood was utilized as a structural element of this building. First, anatomical identification of species of wood was performed by the microscopic identification. The mechanical properties of selected old structural members were determined and compared with standard values, as well as visually inspected by an expert carpenter. The results indicated that several domestic hardwoods and one imported softwood had been used, and that old members (~ %36) showed acceptable mechanical strength despite their decayed appearance. The results implied that the visual inspections were very conservative and not reliable for restoration operations.

The surface roughness in plane milled Scots pine wood that was thermally modified at 190 °C and 220 °C was examined. Indicators of wood surface roughness included the three most commonly applied parameters, arithmetic mean surface roughness (Ra), surface roughness depth (Rz), and total height of the roughness profile (Rt). Roughness was tested separately for earlywood and latewood using two feed speeds of 1 and 5 m/min. The thickness of the milled layer was 1 mm. The effect of all controlled factors, i.e., feed speed, temperature of modification, and place of measurements, on the parameters of surface roughness were statistically significant (P < 0.05). Surface roughness increased with an increase in feed speed, whereas it decreased with an increased modification temperature. Latewood was characteristically lower in roughness than earlywood. The greatest differences in homogenous groups for the determination of the roughness parameters were found in measurements taken on earlywood and latewood, while the smallest differences were recorded for different feed speeds.