Water-based water repellents for treatment of wood

The water uptake by wood can be reduced by treatment with a water repellent. The water repellents most commonly used are solvent based. In the present work a new type of water repellent that is water-based has been investigated. Two different treatments have shown an effect of the same order as a commercial solvent based product. The cellular distribution of the water repellents has been investigated and for one of the formulations a more uniform distribution can be seen at the impregnated surface. Use of water as a solvent would be advantageous due to lower cost and non-toxicity.