Most commercial wood species from the northern European region are of low natural durability. Products from these wood species for outside applications need therefore protection to increase their service life. This protection should be free of biocides, come from renewable resource, have great performance and hold a low consumer price. A mixture of water, sorbitol and citric acid has the potential to do just this by esterification of wood. Esterified wood alters the wood properties in several ways. Besides an increased resistance against decay fungi, the treated wood material is dimensionally stable and shows changed sorption properties. This treatment has gained research interest in the last decade and has been studied extensively by The Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO) and others. This communication paper gives a scientific background, describes the process details of the CIOL® treatment process, presents the obtained material properties, describes the road towards commercialization of CIOL® at NIBIO and Ard Innovation and gives examples of product applications.

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