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An example of media response to perceived environmental problems with CCA-treated wood
1990 - IRG/WP 3564
A recent study suggested that CCA-treated wood exposed to acidic precipitation could lose significant amounts of copper chromium and arsenic resulting in loss of efficacy and possible environmental contamination. The study received wide newspaper and radio coverage in Canada, thereby heightening public concern about CCA use. Subsequent studies in our laboratory confirmed that the high losses were ...
P A Cooper


A Green and Novel Technology for Recovering Copper and Wood from Treated Waste - Part I
2015 - IRG/WP 15-50309
Preservative treatment of wood extends its service life. The US consumes about 70 million pounds of copper and produces about 7 billion board feet of treated wood annually. Burning and reusing CCA and copper treated wood wastes are disallowed by US EPA due to health and environmental concerns. Millions of pounds of copper and wood are disposed by landfill annually. The objective of this study was...
S Chen


A Green and Novel Technology for Recovering Copper and Wood from Treated Wood Waste – Part II: Optimization, copper metal recovery, and process design
2017 - IRG/WP 17-50326
The US consumes 70 million pounds of copper and produces 580 million cubic feet treated wood annually. The EPA disallows burning and reusing treated wood waste due to health/environmental concerns. Vast quantities of copper and wood are landfilled. Two safe and low cost extraction systems, citric acid and ammonium citrate, were identified in Part I of this study. In Part II of the study, effects o...
S Chen, R Patel


Polyesterification of wood using sorbitol and citric acid under aqueous conditions
2018 - IRG/WP 18-40851
The aim of this research is to determine if the polyesterification of sorbitol and citric acid in wood has a future potential as a wood modification process. Pine wood was impregnated with an aqueous solution containing citric acid and sorbitol and was thereafter cured at 103, or 140°C for 18 hours. The dimensional stability and leaching resistance were studied for both modification temperatures....
E Larnøy, A Karaca, L R Gobakken, C A S Hill


Water interactions in wood polyesterified with sorbitol and citric acid
2020 - IRG/WP 20-40888
Polyesterifcation of wood with sorbitol and citric acid seems to be a promising chemical wood modification technique that is both low-cost and produced from bio-based chemicals. An interesting aspect of the modification is the interaction of water with the polyesterified wood since the relationship with moisture appears to be unique compared to other wood modification systems. This communication p...
G Beck, A Treu, E Larnøy


A summary of decay performance with citric acid and sorbitol modification
2020 - IRG/WP 20-40898
Application of wood-based products as construction materials is one piece of the big puzzle to mitigate climate change. Wood is susceptible to biological deterioration. Environmentally motivated legislation is making the use of biocides less attractive from a commercial perspective. Ideally, a wood modification technology should be of low cost, water based and make use of thermal curing. This rese...
G Alfredsen, E Larnøy, G Beck, J Biørnstad, L R Gobakken, C A S Hill, A Treu


Macro biological degradation of wood treated with sorbitol and citric acid – first results from marine environment and termite exposure
2020 - IRG/WP 20-40901
Most European wood species are rapidly and severely degraded in termite-infested areas and the marine environment. There is a need for new solutions, especially in the marine environment, since we lack wood preservatives approved for marine applications in Europe. Several wood modification systems show high resistance against both marine borers and subterranean termites. However, the existing comm...
A Treu, L Nunes, E Larnøy


Durability against fungal decay of sorbitol and citric acid (SorCA) modified wood
2022 - IRG/WP 22-40928
Most European-grown wood species are susceptible to biological degradation, specifically, they suffer from a poor resistance against wood-destroying fungi. Therefore, prior to outdoor exposure, wood has to be treated either by applying a protective coating on its surface or by full-volume impregnation with antifungal chemicals. However, due to environmental and health concerns, the most frequently...
K Kurkowiak, L Emmerich, H Militz


CIOL®-protection of wood – an update
2022 - IRG/WP 22-40932
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...
A Treu, E Larnøy, J Biørnstad


Improvement of durability of Scots pine against termites by impregnation with citric acid and glycerol followed by in situ polyesterification
2023 - IRG/WP 23-30777
Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) sapwood samples were impregnated with solution containing citric acid (CA) and glycerol (Gly) followed by heating 140 °C according to already described procedure (L'hostis et al. 2018). The resulting modified woods were then used to evaluate the effect of chemical modification on the durability against termites. Two kinds of experiments were conducted for this purpos...
M Mubarok, J Damay, E Masson, E Fredon, Y S Hadi, I W Darmawan, P Gerardin


Biological durability and wood-water interactions of sorbitol and citric acid modified wood – Effects on the expected service life
2023 - IRG/WP 23-40960
A high level of research activities on sorbitol and citric acid (SorCA) modified wood has been recognized in Europe over the last few years. As this treatment is close to entering an industrial-scale production, it is of interest to investigate how such treated wood performs upon long-term outdoor exposure. Hence, in this study Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) sapwood was modified with aqueous sol...
K Kurkowiak, L Emmerich, H Militz


Investigating the fire properties of a composite material made of MDF-residues, citric acid and sorbitol
2023 - IRG/WP 23-40969
In times of climate change and a shortage of energy and raw materials, it has become apparent, that material reuse of wood in a cascade system can reduce the ecological impact of a material and be cost effective. A new composite material has been developed made from citric acid, sorbitol, water and waste MDF. Not only will there be a material reuse option for waste MDF but due to the small particl...
P T Lewandowski, W Perdoch, E Larnoy, H Militz


Citric acid and sorbitol treatment: A comparative study of Canadian and Norwegian species
2024 - IRG/WP 24-30806
Dimensional instability can reduce the competitiveness of wood in exterior applications such as cladding and decking. The objective of this work was to evaluate the dimensional stability of permeable and refractory softwoods from Europe and North America modified via a sorbitol and citric acid treatment. White spruce and Norwegian spruce, refractory species, and jack pine and Scots pine, relativel...
D Schorr, Erik Larnøy, R Stirling, G Boivin


A novel treatment for increasing UV stabuility of wood based on citric acid and urea
2024 - IRG/WP 24-30811
Wood, a fundamental material in the Built Environment, faces challenges related to durability and weathering, notably UV degradation leading to colour changes. This study explored a novel treatment method utilising citric acid and urea to enhance the UV stability of wood. The reaction between these compounds forms fluorescent species and insoluble nanoparticles upon thermal treatment. Two treatmen...
S Jué, A Scharf, C-F Lin, R Moutou Pitti, D Sandberg, D Jones


Citric acid/urea derivatives as an anti-discolouration treatment for wood surfaces
2025 - IRG/WP 25-20741
The exterior-use wood faces raining and sunlight exposure, which can cause property changes of the wood, such as the discolouration, dimensional instability, and biological attack. This article explores the use of citric acid and urea as surface protection of wood. The heating of citric acid and urea can result in the fluorescent carbon dots. These carbon dots can absorb UV light with the emission...
C-F Lin, O Myronycheva, D Jones, O Karlsson


Unlocking the Potential of Dairy Coproducts in Wood Modification
2025 - IRG/WP 25-30822
The production of dairy coproducts, such as whey (sweet or acid) and whey ultrafiltration permeate, has significantly increased in response to the rising global cheese consumption. Proteins found in by-products are purified for human nutrition. However, upcycling lactose, which is the major compound of cheese by-products, is more challenging due to the high cost of upcycling processes. Furthermore...
A Keralta, J Karthäuser, J Winninger, J Chamberland, M-J Dumont, V Landry, H Militz


Optimising properties of citric acid-sorbitol bonded particleboards with added ammonium dihydrogen phosphate as fire retardant
2025 - IRG/WP 25-41033
Due to the adverse health effects of formaldehyde-based adhesives and their fossil origin, there is an ongoing search for appropriate bio-based adhesives for particleboards. Although there are some possible solutions, their use in construction is limited partly due to their low moisture resistance and flammability. The latter can be improved by adding various fire retardants. A particleboard with ...
L Kopač, S Medved, B Lesar, M Humar


Synergistic effect of boron on Streptomyces rimosus metabolites in preventing conidial germination of sapstain and mold fungi
1992 - IRG/WP 92-1565
We evaluated the synergistic effect of boron (4% BAE solution of Tim-Bor or 4% boric acid) on Streptomyces rimosus metabolites in preventing spore germination of sapstain and mold fungi using plate bioassay, Southern yellow pine and sweetgum block tests, and green pine log sections: sapstain -- Ceratocystis coerulescens, Ceratocystis minor, and Aureobasidum pullulans; mold fungi -- Aspergillus nig...
S C Croan, T L Highley


A new concept of oxalic acid biosynthesis in physiology of copper-tolerant brown-rot fungi
2001 - IRG/WP 01-10394
Recently, a wide variety of roles of oxalic acid (oxalate) in wood decay systems have been receiving much attention. Copper tolerance of wood-rotting basidiomycetes has been believed to be due to the detoxification of copper wood preservatives by oxalate produced by these fungi. However, biochemical mechanism of oxalate biosynthesis in relation to physiology of wood-rotting fungi has not been eluc...
E Munir, T Hattori, M Shimada


Response of the Formosan Subterranean Termite (Coptotermes formosanus) to Cellulose Insulation Treated with Boric Acid in Choice and No-Choice Tests.
2004 - IRG/WP 04-10532
The tunneling ability of the Formosan subterranean termite Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki through a cellulose insulation material containing11.1% boric acid was tested in choice and no-choice bioassays. We examined tunneling behavior and mortality of termites exposed to treated and untreated insulation material in miniature simulated wall voids. In a choice test termites tunneled through untreat...
M E Mankowski, J K Grace


Boron treatments for the preservation of wood - A review of efficacy data for fungi and termites
1994 - IRG/WP 94-30037
Boron treatments have been used for many decades for protection of timber from biological attack and also as a fire retardant treatment. In recent years there has been an increased interest in boron treatments as an option for protection of structural timbers' e.g. timber framing used in termite risk areas. This paper reviews efficacy data for both fungi and termites relevant to this end-...
J A Drysdale


Preliminary results of investigations on screening test of chemical compounds suitable for the preservation of lignocellulosic materials against biodeterioration
1976 - IRG/WP 262
This paper investigates the possibilities of reducing the time needed for the determination of the effectiveness of chemical compounds from the point of view of their eventual application to lignocellulosic materials for preservation against decay and soft-rot....
K Lutomski, S S Neyman


Patent on the use of tannic acid and ferric chloride against marine borers, etc
1982 - IRG/WP 495
R Mitchell, T D Sleeter


The influence of boric acid on respiratory quotients and methane production of subterranean termites
1995 - IRG/WP 95-10136
The toxicity of boron compounds to subterranean termites (Reticulitermes lucifugus) was studied by analysing changes in the levels of oxygen uptake respiratory quotients and methane production. Termites were fed with filter paper treated at different levels of boric acid, the RQ was evaluated by constant volume manometry and the methane production by gas chromatography. Results are discussed in re...
L Nunes, D J Dickinson


Comparative investigations on the influence of wood seasoning, wood properties and temperature on the toxic values of wood preservatives against Hylotrupes egg larvae
1970 - IRG/WP 28
Comparative tests carried out at three institutes indicated the influence of kiln temperature, position of wood specimens in the cross sectional area and test temperature on the toxic values determined in accordance with DIN 52165 with egg larvae of the house longhorn beetle (Hylotrupes bajulus L.). The preservatives applied were boric acid in distilled water and g-benzene-hexachloride dissolved i...
G Becker, T Hof, O Wälchli


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