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Improvements of monitoring the effects of soil organisms on wood in fungal cellar tests
1996 - IRG/WP 96-20093
Accelerated testing the durability of preservative treated timber in a so called "fungal cellar" or "soil-bed" to evaluate its performance in ground contact is widespread practice. In order to obtain a more accurate and reproducible estimate of preservative performance, several institutes, among them the BAM in Berlin, have routinely carried out static bending tests in addition to visual examinati...
I Stephan, S Göller, D Rudolph


Comparison of Different Methods for Assessing the Performance of Preservatives in the BAM Fungus Cellar Test
1998 - IRG/WP 98-20149
The fungus cellar test is a common means to get reliable data on the long term performance of treated wood in soil contact. A constantly high humidity and a suitable of water holding capacity for a range of micro-organisms provide high decay rates in untreated wood and produce intensive microbial pressures on wood treated with biocides. Presently a range of biocides are under test in the BAM fungu...
I Stephan, M Grinda, D Rudolph


Report of Section 2 2002
2002 - IRG/WP 02-20258
I Stephan


Environmental risk assessment of treated timber in service: The Environment Focus Group approach
2000 - IRG/WP 00-50162
In the context of the Biocidal Products Directive (98/8/EC), and of the OECD work on wood preservatives, the Environment Focus Group (EFG), comprising 8 institutes and the European Wood Preservative Manufacturers Group, has been working on the environmental risk assessment of treated timber in service. A literature review of emissions from treated timber has revealed that very little existing data...
G Deroubaix, G Labat, I Le Bayon, S Legay, P Marchal, C Yrieix, E Melcher, R-D Peek, S De Geyter, J Van Acker, W J Homan, D J Dickinson, R J Murphy, E D Suttie, A J Nurmi, A-C Ritschkoff, D Rudolph, I Stephan, D Aston, E F Baines, J B Simonin


Isolation of soil borne bacteria and fungi from treated timber
2001 - IRG/WP 01-50174
Most research in the last few decades has focused on the development of new strategies to control biological attack and the means to quantify this. Comparatively little work has been done to examine the effect that treated timber might have on its surrounding environment. This presentation will describe a methodology that attempts to detect any changes which might occur in the soil microflora foll...
I Stephan, A Stegemann, G Heidrich


Microbial decomposition of salt treated wood
1993 - IRG/WP 93-50001-22
Specialized microorganisms which are able to convert fixed inorganic preservatives from treated wood into water soluble components are investigated. A number of brown rot fungi like Antrodia vaillantii have been isolated from cases of damage and examined under unsterile conditions with CCA-, CCB-, CCF- and CC-treated wood at retention levels of at least 50% higher than recommended for wood in grou...
R-D Peek, I Stephan, H Leithoff


Biological detoxification of wood treated with salt preservatives
1992 - IRG/WP 92-3717
The use of microorganisms that are capable to convert chemically fixed inorganic preservative complexes from impregnated wood waste into watersoluble components is investigated. A number of fungi were isolated from deteriorated and initially well-treated wood. They revealed an exceptionally high production of organic acids (pH 2). The fungi were identified and used together with others of the same...
I Stephan, R-D Peek


Laboratory testing of wood natural durability - In soil-bed assays
1998 - IRG/WP 98-20141
Laboratory methods for assessing wood decay resistance are being investigated in the framework of an ongoing European research project. This paper summarizes the main results obtained for soil-bed tests based on the European prestandard ENV 807-Test 2. The data suggest that this testing methodology is suitable for evaluating the natural durability of timber species in soil-contact under conditions...
R Sierra-Alvarez, I Le Bayon, J K Carey, I Stephan, J Van Acker, M Grinda, G Kleist, H Militz, R-D Peek


Suitability of cotton strip testing as a screening method for the development of wood preservative formulations
2003 - IRG/WP 03-20270
This paper outlines a simple and rapid test method for screening the efficacy of wood preservative formulations against microbiological attack using cotton strips. The method was evaluated against soft rot and was found to provide reliable information on the protection of lignocellulosic material against microbiological attack. The assessment is based on visual interpretation of decay and on a sim...
H Leithoff, I Stephan, H Härtner


Growth of the copper tolerant brown rot fungus Antrodia vaillantii on different substrates
1995 - IRG/WP 95-10121
In recent years the copper tolerant brown rot fungus Antrodia vaillantii caused severe damages on impregnated wood in ground contact. The pattern of decay gave the impression that impregnated wood was even more severely attacked than unimpregnated. To investigate this question more closely laboratory tests were carried out. In a "choice test" Antrodia vaillantii grew preferably towards CC-impregna...
H Leithoff, I Stephan, M-T Lenz, R-D Peek


Penetration as Key Factor for Determining the Performance of Wood Preservatives
2004 - IRG/WP 04-20293
Stakes of Scots pine sapwood with a dimension of 4 x 4 x 75 cm³ were impregnated with preservatives containing 2 % of propiconazole which had passed the EN 113 test criteria without any problems. The penetration of the colourless preservative was determined successfully by a fungal screening test described by Sutter (1978). The test revealed the insufficient penetration behaviour within the gi...
H Leithoff, I Stephan, R-D Peek


Detoxification of salt impregnated wood by organic acids in a pulping process
1993 - IRG/WP 93-50012
The paper descibes a novel method to detoxify pine wood (Pinus silvestris L.) treated with CCB-, CCF- CC-, and Cu-HDO-type salt preservatives. In the process of biological detoxification organic acids produced by strains of Antrodia vaillantii and other brown rot fungi are used for the dissolution of the previously fixed inorganic compounds. These findings are the basis for applying an acid pulpin...
I Stephan, H H Nimz, R D Peek


Measuring Soil Respiration as a New Approach to Describe the Interaction Between Wood (Treated and Untreated) and Microbiologically Active Soil
2006 - IRG/WP 06-20344
Soil respirometry was employed to examine the relationship between both the performance of copper organic preservatives in contact with and the amount of carbon dioxide evolved from soil and the effect of wood treated with preservatives on carbon turnover in soil. Wood was treated with a range of copper organic preservatives intended for use in ground contact as well as an organic preservative in...
I Stephan, W Mierke


Seasonal shifts of fungal community structure at the interface of treated or untreated wood and soil
2010 - IRG/WP 10-10721
Many wood species are degraded rapidly in soil by the fungal community. In order to preserve wood and structures in which it is used, chemical preservatives are used. Little is known about the interaction of treated wood and the surrounding soil fungal community. For this work, presented at IRG 41, wooden specimens (Pinus sylvestris sapwood, sizes 25 mm x 50 mm x 500 mm (longitudinal)) were treate...
M Noll, I Stephan


Visual Inspection – How Important is the Influence of the Evaluator?
2013 - IRG/WP 13-20521
Visual inspection is often a crucial means of judging the efficacy and performance of a preservative. It is used in non-destructive testing in long term exposure trials or simply, when the practical use and precision of the human eye is a good means of measure. As for the procedure described in EN 252, the impression of softness due to decay of the wood has also to be considered. Although, a thumb...
M Klamer, P Larsson Brelid, I Stephan


Guidance on the European Biocidal Products Regulation Concerning Efficacy of Wood Preservatives
2017 - IRG/WP 17-20627
In Europe wood preservatives belong to Product Type 8 (PT8) of the Biocidal Products Regulation (BPR, EU n. 528/2012), which regulates the authorisation of biocidal active substances and products in the European market. The applicant, who aims to obtain authorization to place a product onto the European market, needs to submit data to substantiate the label claims for the intended uses. Label cla...
I Stephan, M Kutnik, E Conti, M Klamer, L Nunes, J Van Acker, R Plarre


Mechanism of nano metal fluorides against fungi
2018 - IRG/WP 18-30730
Metal fluoride nanoparticles are promising because of their low water solubility, which reduces the need for fixatives required in widely used active ingredient in wood preservatives such as copper and boron. Wood specimens treated with fluoride sols of MgF2 and CaF2 have been tested against brown-rot fungi (Coniophora puteana and Rhodonia placenta) in accordance with EN 113 and against termites (...
S M Usmani, K Klutzny, I Stephan, T Hübert, E Kemnitz


Biocidic effect of nano metal fluorides against brown-rot fungi
2019 - IRG/WP 19-30732
Metal fluoride nanoparticles are promising because of their low water solubility, which reduces the need for fixatives required in widely used active ingredients in wood preservatives such as copper and boron. The effectiveness of nano metal fluorides was compared to sodium fluoride treated wood samples. Wood specimens treated with homo-dispersed sols of MgF2 and CaF2 were tested against brown-rot...
S M Usmani, K Klutzny, I Stephan, E Kemnitz


Application of nano metal fluorides against termites
2019 - IRG/WP 19-30733
Recent research has shown that fluorides such as NaF have potential as a wood preservative against termite attack (Pan and Wang, 2015). However, NaF has high leaching susceptibility because of its solubility (40 g/l ) which can reduce its efficacy over long term. Metal fluoride nanoparticles such as MgF2 and CaF2 present a viable alternative to water soluble fluoride-based wood preservatives as th...
S M Usmani, K Klutzny, Y de Laval, R Plarre, D McMahon, I Stephan, T Hübert, E Kemnitz