Volume 8 Issue 2

Surface treatments, such as immersion, brushing, spraying, dipping, and steeping have been extensively used to treat wood for use in low hazard class areas or as an on-site remedial/supplemental treatment of in-service wooden structures to extend their service life. In the present study the wood was subjected to steeping with three preservative formulations, i.e., copper azole type C (CA-C), alkaline copper quat type C (ACQ-C), and tebuconazole-propiconazole combo (TP), and the effect of surface treatment on fungal decay and termite resistance was evaluated. The results showed that the depth of chemical penetration into the wood and the surface absorption primarily depends on the permeability of the wood species. The efficacy of decay and termite resistance was determined by surface retention per unit area of the surface-treated wood. The surface treatment with CA-C, ACQ-C, and TP significantly enhanced the decay and termite resistances of the wood. But for low-permeability wood species such as Picea asperata, a higher concentration of preservatives or periodic re-surface-treatment is necessary to maintain resistance to decay and to termites.

Chinese Fir wood (Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb.) Hook) was subjected to extraction treatments with sodium chlorite (NaClO2) for delignification, as well as with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) at different concentrations for extraction of hemicelluloses. The wood was examined using a Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer and microtension technique to track changes in the chemical and the micromechanical properties of the cell wall. The results of the microtensile tests indicated that the hemicelluloses caused more damage to the mechanical properties of the cell wall than lignin. The micromechanical properties that occurred with degradation of chemical components underlined the key role of hemicelluloses in maintaining the integrity of the cell wall.

High-density polyethylene (HDPE)/ethylene-propylene-diene monomer (EPDM) blend was prepared by mixing HDPE and EPDM in an internal mixer. Kenaf fibers were then added to the mixture with a few minutes of mixing. The tensile properties of the HDPE/EPDM/kenaf composites were investigated using tensile testing and scanning electron microscopy. Treated kenaf bast powder was prepared using hydrochloric acid (HCl). Hydrolysis was carried out to study the effect of HCl on the structure, composition, and properties of the fibers. HCl treatment removed the impurities in the fibers, resulting in smooth fibers with a small particles size. Fourier transform infrared analysis showed a reduction in lignin, wax, and hemicellulose but no modification in surface chemical composition. The treated filled HDPE/EPDM composites had high tensile strength, elongation at break, and modulus than the untreated filled HDPE/EPDM composites.

Deinked pulp fibers produced by three kinds of deinking processes, alkaline deinking, neutral deinking, and enzymatic deinking, were studied by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FTIR), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), and Cross-Polarization Magic Angle Spinning Carbon-13 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (CP/MAS 13C-NMR). There were remarkable differences in both macroscopic and microscopic structure between the samples. SEM images showed that the effects of deinking processes on fiber morphology were obvious and the influences of alkaline deinking were the most apparent. FTIR analysis indicated that the content of intermolecular hydrogen bonds increased by 22.63%, 9.42%, and 14.40% after the alkaline deinking process, neutral deinking process, and enzymatic deinking process, respectively. XRD revealed that the average width of crystallite size in the (002) lattice plane was decreased after different deinking processes, in accordance with the change tendency of cellulose crystallinity. CP/MAS 13C NMR combined with spectral fitting demonstrated that the content of different cellulose polymorphs changed during deinking processes. The increase of WRV was attributed to changes in the hydrogen bonding patterns and cellulose supramolecular structure.

Acetic acid is one of the major inhibitors of spent sulfite liquor (SSL) fermentation for ethanol production. The objective of this study was to remove acetic acid from hardwood SSL using anion exchange resin in order to achieve effective fermentation with Pichia stipitis CBS6054. Lignosulfonate, as well as sulfate and sulfite ions in the SSL hindered the removal of acetic acid by anion exchange resins. CaO treatment was an effective method for removing these materials from SSL, which facilitated the removal of acetic acid in the subsequent ion exchange resin treatment. A two-stage strong base ion exchange resin (OH- form) treatment removed approximately 90% of the acetic acid from CaO-treated SSL, which decreased the acetic acid concentration to less than 1 g/L. The combined treatment of CaO and ion exchange resin treatments in a relatively short time achieved the selective removal of acetic acid from SSL and significantly increased the ethanol production from SSL.

Xylooligosaccharides (XOS) obtained by autohydrolysis of rice husks were demonstrated in a previous study to act as fermentable substrates by the intestinal microbiota in human fecal slurry cultures, leading to the generation of acetic and lactic acids and supporting the growth of bifidobacteria (Gullón et al. 2011). The purpose of the present study was to provide new insights into other possible targets of XOS action by determining (in the same fecal cultures) the levels of some relevant intestinal microbial groups and the profile of Bifidobacterium species by quantitative and qualitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR), respectively. XOS-containing concentrates promoted the growth of Lactobacillus-Weissella, Bacteroides-Prevotella, and Clostridium cluster XIVa groups, as well as Faecalibacterium prausnitzii species. Preliminary results point to possible variation in the profile of some bifidobacteria species in fecal cultures caused by XOS that should be further investigated. These results support XOS as potential prebiotics for the design of functional food products.

Intelligent resource usage is one of the most challenging tasks for the wood-based panels industry. With respect to this issue, leather shavings, derived during leather preparation, are a promising new raw material, as they offer not only high availability, but also potentially enhance material properties such as panel fire retardancy. In order to improve the performance of these emerging panel binder materials, an understanding of chemical interactions between the different constituents is crucial. This paper investigates the chemical changes that occur during hot-pressing of wood and leather in combination with lignin by means of solid state 13C NMR spectroscopy. These constituents, their binary mixtures, and the influences of panel pressing temperature and pressure commonly used in panel production were investigated. The study showed characteristic chemistry and features of these constituents, quantifying the impacts of both heat and pressure on their interactions. Primarily, analysis revealed that lignin readily connects with both the wood and leather components. Lignin induces chemical change within the protein structure of leather, resembling tanning reactions, or protein complexation. By analogy, it was deduced that this interaction also takes place between leather and the lignin-rich wood fibre surface. This effect may be beneficial in industrial-scale production through improving resin binding properties during panel consolidation.

Urea-melamine-formaldehyde (UMF) resins with 2.5% and 5.0% melamine levels added at the beginning of the third step of the typical urea-formaldehyde (UF) synthesis procedure were synthesized with an F/(U+M) mole ratio of 1.05 and evaluated as particleboard binders to investigate the positive effects of melamine on the formaldehyde content and physical performance of boards. Resins were tested for storage properties and analyzed by 13C NMR. Curing catalysts were studied, curing rates were measured, and laboratory particleboards were prepared and tested for formaldehyde contents as well as strength and water-soak test values. The UMF resins resulted in slower curing rates but had adequate board strength values. The formaldehyde content values were within the newly created California emission law (5.2 to 8.0 mg/100 g board). Another objective of this work was to establish the baseline performance of these resins for use in subsequent studies that will aim to reveal the effects of methylene-ether group contents on formaldehyde emissions.

The previous study on low mole ratio urea-formaldehyde (UF) and urea-melamine–formaldehyde (UMF) resins synthesized in the typical way as particleboard binders was repeated with the inclusion of a strong acidic reaction step at a mole ratio of 2.7 in the beginning of the resin synthesis procedure. The resulting UF and UMF resins showed longer storage- and pot-lives, longer gel times, and the particleboards gave higher internal bond and lower water-soak absorption values. However, the free formaldehyde contents of boards were increased with UF resins and decreased with UMF resins, indicating that the uron-type methylene-ether groups formed from the strong acidic step resulted in enhancement of the bonding, but they give off some extra formaldehyde, which is captured more effectively in UMF resins because of the higher reaction capacity of melamine. The extra acidic reaction step could be useful in UMF resin syntheses. The generation of extra formaldehyde by uron-type methylene-ether bonds is documented.

Vinegar residue, a typical agro-industrial by-product in the vinegar production process, constitutes a huge environmental problem in China. Though utilization of vinegar residue has drawn much attention, there is still no effective, economical, and environmentally friendly method to deal with it. Anaerobic digestion is an effective method widely used in organic waste processing which might be an alternative to convert this acidic waste into biogas energy. A biochemical methane potential assay was conducted, and the influence of different feed to inoculum ratios (F/I) was determined. The highest methane yield of 242.69 mL g VS-1 was achieved at a F/I of 1, while the lowest methane yield of 182.94 mL g VS-1 was obtained at a F/I of 6. The TVFA/TA ratio was higher than the limiting value (0.4) at F/I ratios of 5 and 6, which demonstrated destabilization during the anaerobic digestion process. The modified Gompertz equation was developed to calculate the cumulative methane yields from different F/I ratios. The results suggested that the vinegar residue had extensive potential in biogas production and anaerobic digestion as a promising method that may be applied to deal with such waste, thus it is worth doing further research in the future.