Wood furfurylation process development. Part 1: Oscillating Pressure Method

IRG/WP 07-40376

E Larnøy, M Westin, B Källander, S Lande

Furfurylated wood (wood modified by furfuryl alcohol) has over the last years gained marked shares from both tropical wood and conventional preservative treated wood and this has, in turn, generated several research projects concerning process development. The impregnation of spruce is well known from literature to be a difficult task. Furthermore, the sapwood of Scandinavian-grown Scots pine is also known to be difficult to fully impregnate from time to time. The primary objective of the study was to evaluate whether the Oscillating Pressure Method (OPM) could be used to impregnate green and dry Norway spruce wood (Picea abies) with a Furfuryl alcohol (FA) - mixture. The secondary objective of the study was to evaluate if OPM could improve the penetration of FA in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) as compared to conventional full cell (Bethell) treatment. Impregnation tests were carried out on boards and planks as well as 300 mm and 500 mm clear wood samples. Samples were removed for MC measurement and the initial weight of the test samples was determined. Four different impregnation schemes were tested. The results indicate that Norway spruce can be impregnated by the OPM method to produce a protective shell of treated wood around a core of untreated wood. The penetration in Spruce showed great variation between different boards and between different parts of the individual boards. This is in part expected, but can also be caused by uncontrolled pre drying of the test material which was stacked uncovered after sawing. For Scots pine, the OPM improved the penetration of both sapwood and, to some extent, the outer heartwood.


Keywords: furfuryl alcohol, Oscillating Pressure Method, Ppenetration, pine, spruce, uptake

Conference: 07-05-20/24 Jackson, USA


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