Volume 7 Issue 2

The importance of teaching, for the development of economies, cultures, and the enrichment of people’s lives cannot be overstated. These days biomass and bioenergy teaching has a pivotal role to play in influencing all of the aforementioned areas of life, since fossil fuels are becoming depleted. However, what good is teaching if it cannot be communicated in an intelligible, persuading, and egalitarian manner? A dynamic educational construct between “teacher” and “student” will be the chief mode of promoting knowledge and provoking research for engendering more knowledge. This editorial attempts to show how teaching is a living and symbiotic discipline that we typically take for granted, but once we do it right, we have the power to change the world as we know it. We will briefly explore the example of BioSUCCEED, a platform at NC State University, as a means of communicating knowledge related to biomass and bioenergy.

The application of fillers at the surface of cellulosic paper is an interesting and industrially-commercialized but not very well-known concept, in which the filler particles are essentially added to the voids of the fibrous matrixes. This so-called “surface filling” can be achieved by the use of fillers together with a polymer solution via film press or size press, an approach that is distinct from both wet-end filling and conventional coating of paper. As an easily practicable process, surface filling has some advantages over direct wet-end addition of fillers, such as minimizing the adverse effects of filler addition on paper strength. Efficient surface filling is somewhat dependent on the specific characteristics of both fillers and fibrous matrixes. Surface filling may provide interesting possibilities for the papermaking discipline; for example, it would open the door to maximizing the cost-effectiveness of paper mills, and efficiently adding new functionalities to cellulosic paper. From both practical and fundamental points of view, systematic exploration and understanding of surface filling of cellulosic paper would be of great significance to the papermaking industry.

The biosorption of As(V) from aqueous solutions by pine sawdust chemically modified with iron in batch systems was investigated. The loading process of Fe in this biomaterial was achieved by hydrolysis of two different ferric salts. This modification of sawdust is an attempt to improve As(V) biosorption for practical applications. The kinetics and maximum biosorption capacities of the unmodified and modified pine sawdust were evaluated. It was found that the pseudo-second order model described the As(V) biosorption kinetic data and the Langmuir-Freundlich equation described the arsenate sorption equilibrium. These results indicated that the sorption mechanism was chemisorption on a heterogeneous material. The pH effects governing biosorption capacities were also evaluated, showing a decrease as pH value rises, indicating that this biosorption process is highly pH-dependent. The estimated maximum biosorption capacities of As(V), based on the Langmuir-Freundlich fit to the data were, at pH 4, 4.4 mg/g of untreated sawdust, (UN-SW), 12.85 mg/g of ferric chloride modified sawdust (FeCl-SW), and 6 mg/g of ferric nitrate modified sawdust (FeNit-SW); and at pH 7, 2.6 mg/g of UN-SW, 5.9 mg/g of FeCl-SW, and 4.6 mg/g of FeNit-SW. Sorption capacities of iron-modified pine sawdust were evidently higher than other similar biosorbents previously reported.

This paper provides an applicable approach to identifying flavonoid compounds from bamboo leaves extracts, based on the use of the powerful Liquid Chromatography Electrospray Ionization source in combination with hybrid Ion Trap and high-resolution Time-of-flight Mass Spectrometry (LC-(ESI)-IT-TOF/MS). The strategy involves four procedural steps including searching flavonoid components based on an ultraviolet spectrum scan, getting the accurate mass of flavonoid components parent ion, retrieving the corresponding formula by software, and speculating as to the chemical structure according to mass spectrum decomposition rules. The presently developed methodology has been well proven to be useful and valuable by successful application to the identification of flavonoid components from Dendrocalamopsis oldham leaves. All of the 13 flavonoid components detected have been successfully identified by this approach, except that it failed to confirm 3 flavonoid component chemical structures. The calibration curves of two flavonoid components (orientin and vitexin) that had been identified in bamboo leaves showed a good linear fit (R2≥0.9998) in the concentration range of 6.25 to 200 mg/L. The limits of detection (LOD) were less 0.02 mg/L (S/N=3), and the estimated limits of quantification (LOQ) were less 0.06 mg/L (S/N=10). Intra- and inter-day relative standard deviations were less than 1.04 and 1.82%, respectively.

Laboratory leaching test procedures usually call for the use of distilled or deionized water; however, treated wood is generally exposed to different types of water, soil, and weather conditions. Thus, factors such as salinity, hardness, pH, temperature etc. might be important in the release of different amounts of biocide compounds. This study evaluates the release of the sodium salt of the calcium precipitating and wood preserving agent N’N-hydroxynapthalimide (NHA) from treated wood specimens exposed to different types of leaching media. Scots pine wood specimens were treated with NHA at three different solution strengths. Treated specimens were then leached with distilled water, tap water, rain water, synthetic sea water, natural sparkling water, or 1% CaCO3 solutions for 2 weeks. Leaching with higher ion concentrations reduced NHA losses from the specimens in comparison with that of distilled water and rain water leaching trials. Microscopic evaluations were in good accordance with the results from leaching trials, revealing NHA precipitation onto the tori of pit elements and tracheids. In distilled water and rain water leaching trials, less NHA precipitation on to the tori of pit membranes and tracheid surfaces was observed, whilst the specimens leached with tap water, 1% CaCO3, sea water, and sparkling water showed higher NHA precipitations on the cell elements. We conclude that the leaching of NHA from treated wood can be decreased by precipitation with ions coming from tap water, sea water, sparkling water, and 1% CaCO3 solutions as leaching media rather than distilled water or rain water with no or much less ion composition.

Besides other ligno-cellulosic materials such as straw, rice husks, or bagasse, wet blue particles from leather production are a promising new raw material stock for wood-based panels, as they offer not only a high availability, but increase the properties of the panel with regard to fire resistance or mechanical characteristics. A panel with a mixture of 42.5% wood fibers, 42.5% wet blue leather particles, and 15% lignin adhesive was produced, and an inhomogeneous sample was prepared. An area of 9 x 10 mm was rasterized and scanned by means of Raman Spectroscopy. Furthermore, the reference spectra of the constituents, i.e. wood fiber, wet blue leather particle, and lignin powder were recorded. The obtained data were treated and analyzed using chemometric methods (principal components analysis PCA and cluster analysis). An important finding was that the reference data were not directly represented in the panels’ spectra, and the correlation matrix of the PCA was not applicable to the panel data. This indicated that chemical changes might take place during the pressing. After processing the panel Raman spectra with the help of PCA and cluster analysis, three distinctive clusters were obtained, discriminating wood, leather, and mixed regions. With the assigned spectral information, it was possible to create a spectral image of the surface.

Two hyperbranched polyglycerols (HBPGs) and one oligoglycerol containing bisphenol A in the core of the molecule were synthesized from glycerol carbonate and applied as polyols in 2-component polyurethane adhesive systems. It was shown that mechanical performance of the joints made in solid wood depended on the hydroxyl functionality of the polyglycerol as well as on the type of the isocyanate used as a cross-linker. The shear strengths of the best-performing joints exceeded that of the substrate. Eventually, it was proved that hyperbranched polyglycerols might be convenient glycerol-derived raw materials for polyurethane adhesives.

The antitermitic activityof different extracts obtained from Tectona grandis L.f was investigated against Coptotermes curvignathus (Holmgren). The main objective of this work was to determine the mortality rate of termites by the teak wood extracts. Different extracts exhibited different degree of antitermitic activity. A teak wood with age of 39-59 years and 59-79 years were selected from Purwakata and Cepu regions of Indonesia, respectively. As per earlier reports, quinones are considered as toxic to termites, and these quinones are found in abundance in teak wood. Among the extracts of petroleum ether, acetone/water (9:1), and ethanol/water (8:2), the acetone/water (9:1) extracts exhibited strong activity. The surface morphology of extracted wood samples was observed by scanning electron microscopy in order to reveal evidence of change.

In recent years there has been an increasing interest in using high-yield pulp (HYP) as a partial replacement for hardwood bleached kraft pulp (HWBKP) in the production of high-quality fine papers as a cost-effective way of improving the product performance. This study investigated the substitution of HYP for HWBKP and its effect on the Alkenyl Succinic Anhydride (ASA) sizing performance. The results showed that the substitution of an aspen HYP for HWBKP can increase the ASA sizing performance at a HYP substitution as high as 15 to 20%. The ASA addition sequence has an influence on the ASA sizing performance and first adding ASA to the HYP followed by mixing with kraft pulps was the preferred method. Using precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) as a paper filler at a dosage of less than 20% can increase the ASA sizing performance due to the contribution of the calcium soap of the hydrolysed ASA. A PCC dosage greater than 20% resulted in a negative impact on the sizing performance. It was also found that different PCC loading sequences can also affect the ASA sizing performance.

To investigate the optical properties of chemithermomechanical pulp (CTMP) from Eucalyptus , one group of samples of CTMP was aged by heating, and another group was first subjected to bleaching with different bleaching agents, and then aging by exposure to sunlight. Chromophores were analyzed using diffuse reflectance UV-Vis spectra (DRUV), and the brightness and color parameters (L*, a*, b*) were analyzed using colorimetry. Results showed that the color reactions of the pulp, upon heating, were enhanced in the presence of moisture. There was a linear relationship between the pulp initial moisture content (MC) and the intensity of UV-Vis absorption. The contribution of different chromophores to pulp color was analyzed with the help of bleaching agents: , , and sodium borohydride. Sodium borohydride and hydrogen peroxide treatments resulted in a decrease in the absorption band at 280 nm along with the shoulder near 320 nm, which could be attributed to conjugated C=O and C=C systems. Similarly, sodium dithionite treatment also led to a decrease in absorption of the carbonyls and double bonds conjugated with aromatic double bonds. The chromaticity parameters of bleached pulp increased after exposure to sunlight. A correspondingly higher concentration of quinoid structures was found.