Your search resulted in 444 documents. Displaying 25 entries per page.
The performance of wood preservatives in soil-bed soft rot tests
1993 - IRG/WP 93-20007
Testing the efficacy of wood preservatives in soil is recognised as a fundamental part of the assessment of long-term wood protection in ground contact. Laboratory based tests can provide a hazardous environment in which a preservative can be challenged by a range of micro-organisms. This paper presents the results of tests carried out to investigate the performance of wood preservatives in a wet ...
G R Williams, S Caswell
Decay resistance of resin treated wood
1999 - IRG/WP 99-30206
Selected natural resin systems were evaluated for their potential as wood protecting agents according to standard test procedures. As indicated by the European standard EN 599 both a Basidiomycete test according to EN 113 and a ENV 807 soil bed test were carried out. Six resin treatments were tested using 3 concentration or treatment levels. Using the biocidal activity criteria as usually applied ...
J Van Acker, A J Nurmi, S M Gray, H Militz, C Hill, H Kokko, A O Rapp
Data sheet on wood-boring insects: Ptilinus pectinicornis (Linnaeus)
1987 - IRG/WP 1334
S Cymorek, M-M Serment
Performance of CCA treated Eucalyptus round ties
1985 - IRG/WP 3342
After 5.5 years of field exposure in the south of Brazil round Eucalyptus ties treated with CCA type A Oxide (OSMOSE K-33-A) preservative with retentions from 12 to 14 kg/m³ (0.75 to 0.873 PCF) (active ingredient basis) are performing very well. No decay or insect attack was observed in the 100 ties in test in real conditions of use; 10% of ties show incipient checking (what is a natural trend of...
V J Carlos, F R Niederauer, J P P Wehr
36 years of wood preservative tests in Tanzania
1992 - IRG/WP 92-3731
The performanee of major wood presevatives which are used widely commereially are given. These include creosote, CCA's and 5% Pentachlorophenol dissolved in heavy industrial diesel. Tests are conducted at three ecologically different using pine stakes. Results show that the striking performance of creosote and CCA's is noticeable at above 128 kg/m³ and 16 kg/m³ respectively....
K K Murira, P F Nangawe
Co-operative field experiment. Performance of preservative-treated hardwoods with particular reference to soft rot: Report of condition of specimens installed in Victoria, Australia
1978 - IRG/WP 3118
J Beesley
Copper based water-borne preservatives: The biological performance of wood treated with various formulations
1987 - IRG/WP 3451
Wood samples treated with the various components of CCA preservative singly and in combination were tested against a soft rot organism, a copper tolerant brown rot organism and in soil burial both unleached and after leaching. The results suggest that, of the elements tested, fixed copper is essential for preventing soft rot attack and fixed arsenic is essential for preventing attack by a copper t...
S M Gray, D J Dickinson
Regulatory and Consumer Challenges Facing Timber Preservation and Durability Interests in New Zealand and Australia
2003 - IRG/WP 03-20282
Timber preservation and durability interests in Australia and New Zealand are facing many challenges and threats arising from regulation and standards changes, to direct competition from competitive materials producers. Industry can address these challenges by pro-active initiation of sound, holistic, research, that addresses the performance needs of the regulators and specifiers and the expectati...
C MacKenzie
Thirty-four year test of on-site preservative treatments to control decay in wood above ground
1993 - IRG/WP 93-30015
This research was initiated in 1958 to investigate efficacy of various preservatives and treating methods for new lumber going into exterior structures of buildings. Post-rail units (2x4 inches) constructed of Southern Pine sapwood, Douglas-fir heartwood, and mill run western hemlock were dip- or brush-treated before or after assembly. Units were trested with pentachlorophenol in various petroleum...
T L Highley, T C Scheffer
The use of chlorothalonil for protection against mold and sapstain fungi. Part 1: Laboratory evaluation
1989 - IRG/WP 3515
Laboratory screening of chlorothalonil alone and in combination with other fungicides was conducted against six mold and sapstain fungi. The most promising treatments appear to be chlorothalonil supplemented with CCA or copper-8-quinolinolate. Field tests have been implemented....
J A Micales, T L Highley, A L Richter
Performance of treated spruce in Canadian field test sites
1989 - IRG/WP 3506
Spruce material under test in Canadian field test sites is performing better than anticipated. From the comparison of the performance of spruce treated with various preservatives, it appears that penetration may be far more important on durability performance than the preservative itself or the retention of preservatives in the wood. However, there is still insufficient data on the influence of pe...
J P Hösli, E E Doyle
Proposals for a field experiment to determine the performance of preservative treated hardwoods with particular reference to soft rot
1975 - IRG/WP 342
It is proposed to treat a series of hardwood stakes in the UK and install them in different sites around the world. The stakes will include 3 reference species common to every site and 2 locally selected species. The hazard of termites should be avoided in order to limit the study to action of micro-organisms....
D J Dickinson
Questionnaire concerning assessment of test data from laboratory and field tests
1992 - IRG/WP 92-2418
During the WG II session in Harrogate, UK it was announced, that possibly a working-session on the assessment of test data and correlation between laboratory and field tests might be organised during next year's meeting in Orlando. For that pupose a questionnaire was prepared. The valuable comments and input of Prof. Thomas Nilsson from Sweden is hereby greatly acknowledged....
A R Valcke
Ground contact performance of wood treated by the MSU process
1990 - IRG/WP 3609
Environmental concerns have prompted a renewed interest in accelerated fixation schemes for CCA-treated wood. Results from stake tests of southern pine (Pinus sp.) treated using a conventional Bethell cycle are compared with matched stakes treated using the MSU Process. The effects of adding boric acid to the preservative formulation are also discussed. Differences among test plots are discussed....
H M Barnes, T L Amburgey, R W Landers
Co-operative research project on L-joint testing. Progress report to May 1989
1989 - IRG/WP 2338
Further sets of data received from STU (Sweden) after 36 months exposure and Sipad-IRC (Yugoslavia) after 45 months exposure are presented and discussed in conjunction with data reported previously. The new data are generally in agreement with those presented previously and the major difference between institutes continues to be one of rate of colonisation rather than any relative difference in pe...
J K Carey, A F Bravery
A natural exposure weathering test for the evaluation of preservative performance
1992 - IRG/WP 92-2400
Natural exposure weathering tests were carried out by externally exposing treated wood samples for varying periodes of time up to 36 months. In the laboratory these samples were assayed for residual preservative effeciveness using Coniophora puteana FPRL 11E. The results indicated a loss in efficacy over and above that determined using artificial ageing procedures such as EN73 (evaporative ageing)...
J Brown, G R Williams
Performance of chromated copper arsenate-treated aspen fence posts installed in Forintek's Eastern test plot from 1951 to 1963
1984 - IRG/WP 3272
Aspen poplar fence posts were pressure treated by the full cell process using three formulations of copper chrome arsenate wood preservative. A total of one hundred and fifty nine of the posts were installed in service in Forintek's Chalk River post plot from 1951 to 1962. During the 1982 general inspection of the post plot all 159 posts were still in service. A groundline inspection was ...
C D Ralph
Patterns of long-term performance - How well are they predicted from accelerated tests and should evaluations consider parameters other than averages?
1998 - IRG/WP 98-20130
This paper is a discussion of whether different service-life distribution patterns of products treated with unlike preservatives can be predicted, modeled, characterized, or even anticipated from accelerated laboratory tests. Graphic displays of data from Forest Products Laboratory field plots with preservative-treated and fire-retardant-treated stakes demonstrate the importance of local environme...
R C De Groot, J W Evans
Risk assessment and the approval of wood preservatives in the United Kingdom
1995 - IRG/WP 95-50040-23
An approval system operates in the United Kingdom (UK) for the regulation of wood preservatives. The regulatory authority uses a risk assessment approach to evaluate how far the potential for harm to people and the environment from wood preservatives is likely to be realised in practise, and hence the controls required for products to be, used safely. The evaluation for approval purposes also take...
R M Turner
The Biocidal Products Directive ( 98/8/EC ) - its consequences for the wood preservation industry
2001 - IRG/WP 01-50166-04
1. The Current Position
This European Union Directive is one of the most technically complex pieces of legislation that has been developed by the European Commission (EC). Although the Directive was to have been implemented in the legislation of individual Member States of the EU by May 2000 progress has been slow. A number of Member States have yet to declare the Competent Authority who will handle their legislation. The body text of the Directive cannot stand-alone and is dependent on ancillary regulations and the development of technical guidance for both the Competent Authorities in the Member States and also industry to understand their roles in the whole process for the regulation of biocides and the biocidal products containing them. The process is far from complete in terms of a piece of workable legislation and this leaves not only industry but also the Competent Authorities with significant areas of uncertainty. This is potentially economically and socially damaging to the marketing and use of biocides and biocidal products. Because of this evolutionary process this paper can only be written in general terms as by the time the symposium takes place some significant changes to the position at the time of writing may have occurred.
2. Background
The Biocidal Products Directive (98/8/EC), (BPD), is a directive which requires that biocides ( as active substances) are approved for use within the EU and the individual biocidal products containing these active substances are approved for use by the Competent Authority(s) of the Member State(s) in which it is intended to market the product. The product authorisation obtained in the first Member State should be mutually recognised by the other Member States in which application for authorisation to place the product on the market is sought. The Directive has to be seen in the context various other Directives, notably the Plant Protection Directive 91/414/EC). Biocidal products are grouped in the directive into twenty three "product types" and wood preservatives are Product Type 8. The intention of the directive is to harmonise the requirements for the placing of biocidal products and active ingredients on the market throughout the EU. EU wide use of so-called Common Principles are intended to be used to assess the dossiers in order to achieve a common approach and eliminate the current situation where individual Member States apply their own particular national approaches and criteria in the assessment and regulation of products . Annex IIA of the directive identifies the data requirements for the active substance and Annex II B for the biocidal product. There are additional data requirements identified in Annexes IIIA and IIIB for each product type reflecting potential for exposure to man and the environment.
3. Entry onto Annex I
Any new active substance will require approval before it or any biocidal products including it can be placed on the market. The dossier to be submitted to the EC will have to include additional data and risk assessments for the product types (as defined in the BPD) in which it will be intended to be used. For those active substances that are accepted as being existing substances on the market before May 2000 (say in wood preservatives) these will be ranked and prioritised. This process is being defined in the so-called: Review Regulations.
4. An environmental directive
There is no doubt that this Directive has a high environmental content in terms of the data and the associated risk assessments which are to be prepared. The protocols and the end points for some of these data requirements are still being developed. In general the EC considers that modelling exposure using human and environmental exposure scenarios covering the end use of the product is an acceptable approach . Data are required to enable these scenarios to be modelled and risk assessments made. It is necessary that regulators do not make decisions based on hazard assessment alone in the absence of fully worked out and agreed emission scenarios to define exposure levels which generate a realistic worst case risk assessment. Risk is a function of both hazard and exposure. A lot of work has been done in the development of Technical Notes for Guidance intended to help the regulator and the applicant in the submission and the interpretation of the data. Whilst it may be the case that the human toxicity data requirements still leave questions to be answered it is in the environmental aspects part of the regulatory process where there is still much work to be done. The Directive would seem to rely heavily on the development of Pass / Fail criteria in simulation tests. This is a big subject and of key importance to the risk assessment.
5. Wood preservatives ---- a test case
Wood preservation has achieved a certain reputation. On the one hand it is said that a prime reason for the development of the Biocidal Products Directive arose from European problems in the regulation of the marketing and use of dangerous substances, notably wood preservatives. On the other hand because wood preservatives have been regulated by a number of Member States for many years it is believed they are well understood. The EC and the Member States also wanted to be seen to have achieved early success in the implementation of the Directive therefore the decision was taken to start, following failings with the speed of progress of the Plant Protection Products Directive, with a product type they knew all about i.e. wood preservatives. There is no doubt that there is a much greater understanding on the exposure scenarios, both human and environmental, for wood preservatives than many other product types. However, would it not have been better to have tackled some of the other product types where such an understanding is much less well developed? It is regrettable that the EC and Member States did not feel able to accept the results of an EC sponsored study (Haskoning report) on the assessment of risks for all the product types covered under the BPD. The results of this study clearly showed that wood preservatives did not constitute the most significant risk to man or the environment and in fact the risk was significantly greater for other product types.
6. Wood preservatives and the OECD Biocides Programme
Another speaker will be covering this subject in more detail. Suffice it to say that because of the perception there was good knowledge about wood preservatives again they were selected as the pilot for an OECD project looking at environmental and human exposure assessment under the OECD Biocides Programme. The findings from two OECD Workshops actually demonstrated there was still much to be learnt about wood preservatives in order to refine the risk assessments to a state where they would be sufficient for the requirements of the BPD. This work is ongoing but it clearly demonstrates the problems that both the regulator and industry will have in the preparation and the assessment of the dossiers for both the active substances and the biocidal products. This is especially the case for other biocidal products that have not been subject to the same kind of regulation that wood preservatives have subjected to in the past.
7. Inorganic and organic biocides
With current wood preservation technology there is still a dependence on inorganic chemicals such as copper (in conjunction with other biocides) or with chromium, as well as arsenic and boron for many end use applications. This is very much the case where a long term service life is a key factor in the use of treated wood for that end use. These substances are commodity chemicals and are also covered under the Existing Substances Regulations (EC) 1488/94. There is also work going on revising the Technical Notes for Guidance covering them . This includes a significant addition in the environmental risk assessment area. Efforts are being made to integrate and coordinate the requirements for both the BPD and the Existing Substances Regulations and OSPAR ( OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic). OSPAR refers to the Oslo Paris Convention. Whilst the BPD seems primarily aimed at the regulation of biocides based on organic chemicals wood preservative products may contain both inorganic and organic components. Indeed there are probably few wood preservative formulations on the market that contain only one active substance. This must have a significant impact on the way the dossiers are prepared for the active substance and the biocidal products and how they are assessed both at the EC and the Member State level.
8. Consequences of the BPD for the wood preservation industry
Whilst this paper addresses the consequences for the wood preservation industry per se, it must not be overlooked that there may be implications for the fabricaÈors of articles made from treated timber. Some current wood preservative formulations may over a period of time be withdrawn from the market because the risks and costs of generating the data and the preparation of the dossier make the product economically unviable. The presence of large working volumes of wood preservative solutions at treatment plants requires realistic withdrawal periods to avoid the unnecessary disposal and associated environmental risk of products that have been used satisfactorily for many years.
9. Availability of active substances
The structure of the industry has changed dramatically in the past few months and there is no doubt that other changes both within and outside the wood preservation industry itself are yet to happen. The original differentiation between formulator of wood preservatives and active substance suppliers to the wood preservation industry has become blurred. Some of the active substances used in wood preservation are used in other either other biocidal product types or in products regulated under another directive, e.g. Plant Protection Products Directive 91/414/EC.
10. Data protection
This continues to be a key issue for industry and some companies may find it strategically or financially necessary not to support an active substance in a particular product type thus leaving that sector without being able to use the active substance. The coming months will start to reveal which active substances are likely to be supported, at least through the notification process. Formulators are therefore in a close dialogue with their suppliers to try to determine their intentions on whether or not they intend to support their active substance. Today's wood preservative formulations are largely multi active substance based. Product costs, efficacy spectra, niche marketing and other considerations have made this process inevitable. New wood preservative formulations take time to research and develop and the continuity of availability of a choice of active substances is of key importance. A lack of adequate return on investment necessary to sustain the development of new products could have a negative impact on innovation and the rate of introduction of new products. It is extremely unlikely that any new active substance will be solely developed for use in wood preservation. This would be an effect contrary to expectations of the EC. The situation with wood preservatives is complicated by the fact that treated wood is a construction product and comes under the scope of the Construction Products Directive (89/106/EEC) (CPD). Products under the scope of the CPD are required to meet certain so-called essential requirements and one of these is durability. Demonstration of compliance involves the extensive suite of CEN wood preservative efficacy tests. Even relatively small changes in formulations may require extensive re-testing under the EN 599 regime in some Member States.
11. Task Forces
Companies are encouraged by the EC to enter into Task Forces in order to reduce the burden of testing on animals and also to reduce the number of dossiers to be reviewed for each active substance. Ideally, and understandably, the EC would like one dossier per active substance. Parts of the wood preservation industry have been co-operating in Task Forces and much practical experience has been gained. Even closer co-operation will be required and this will enable companies to pool experience and expertise and manage their financial exposure to potentially high regulatory costs by sharing them amongst a larger number of parties.
12. Financial aspects
Industry will have to make some best guesses with respect to its investment programmes for supporting its portfolio of products. Formulators and active substance suppliers are likely to group into Task Forces in order to reduce their costs in terms of data generation and the fees likely to be charged at the EU and the Member State level for the assessment of the dossiers. The compilation of the dossiers requires specialist expertise to assist the industrial applicant(s). This is likely to cost in the order of £100,000 per active substance, not including the costs of generating any data. The Rapporteur State's costs for reviewing the dossier is also expected to be of the same order. Clearly these kinds of costs will impact on innovation. An adequate payback must be available to the company to justify this level of investment.
13. Will mutual recognition work?
Member States are required to recognise the authorisation of the biocidal product placed on the market in the first Member State when subsequent applications are made to place the product on the market. This is a fundamental principle of the BPD, although there is concern that Member States continue to have enough flexibility to prevent this happening if there are particular concerns in that Member State. Industry very much hopes this will not be the case and that mutual recognition, a fundamental principle of the BPD, will work in practice.
14. Environmental aspects
Biocidal products such as wood preservatives are generally applied in controlled situations and not over large areas. Consequently any emissions can be considered to be from discreet sources, such as treated timber or potentially from timber treatment plants. This is in contrast to plant protection products and some other biocidal products that are usually dispersed over a relatively large area. Because of this a lot of work is required to be done to re evaluate how the environmental aspects of biocidal products such as wood preservatives can be assessed in an objective manner. The criteria that define an emission and how the PEC (Predicted Environmental Concentration) for each environmental compartment is determined are critical. The wood preservation industry, through the EWPM (European Wood Preservative Manufacturers Group), has been working with institutes and other interested parties in a co-operation known as the EFG (Environment Focus Group) to progress the development of appropriate methodology. Data will be required for both primary and secondary exposure to treated timber. The protocols for this work are yet to be agreed. This work is being further progressed in the OECD together with input from CEN TC 38 WG27. This co-operation between the OECD and CEN is extremely significant in that it is, I believe, the first time such a co-operation has taken place in the development of an OECD Guideline. If one considers all of the end uses where treated timber may be found carrying out a risk assessment with few guidelines on how it should be done is a very uncertain process for both industry and the regulator. Reliance on so-called expert opinion may be inadequate.
15. Comparative assessment (the substitution principle)
This is a process whereby the health safety and environmental properties of acti_u101 ? substances used in the same product type could be compared and those with the most undesirable properties would not be placed on Annex I. Consequently biocidal products containing them would have to be removed from the market. This process is embodied in the BPD but it was initially considered that it would only be applied in the event of problems arising with active substances or products containing them rather than being used as a screening tool early on in the review process for active substances. This area is still an uncertain one with Member States having different interpretations of this principle. It is unfortunate that the wood preservation industry could be used to test out this concept at a European level. The consequences of this principle could be further losses of active substances available to the wood preservative formulators.
16. Substances of concern
The BPD is not only concerned with the active substances that are formulated into the biocidal product but also with so-called "substances of concern". These are defined as any substance, other than the active substance, which has the inherent capacity to cause an adverse effect on humans, animals or the environment and is present or is produced in a biocidal product in sufficient concentration to create such an effect. There are significant implications for the formulator of the biocidal product . The formulator may have to submit an extensive dossier containing toxicological and metabolic as well as ecological data on each of the substances of concern when seeking approval for the biocidal product. There may be classes of compounds that become unavailable to the formulator either because of the risks posed by the co-formulant or because the cost of generating data will be uneconomic.
17. The wood preservation Industry's view on the BPD
Industry has supported the development of the BPD since its conception in 1989. It is still supportive it but believes that the degree of complexity is disproportionate to the level of risk when it comes to wood preservatives. After all wood preservatives have been regulated for a long time and in reality there have been few significant health safety and environmental problems associated with them. Industry believes there is no need to determine an absolute understanding about a biocide and its application but rather there is a need to determine the level of understanding that will enable characterisation so that a risk assessment can be made. The wood preservation industry has sought either directly or through representative bodies a pro-active and collaborative approach with the regulators although at times this appears to have encouraged inappropriate demands. The regulators have invariably responded positively to this however they may not always understand the burden in both time and resource in having made wood preservatives the test case. Industry hopes that its efforts to be pro-active will be recognised and will be dealt with equitably when considered before the other product types defined in the Biocidal Products Directive.
D Aston
Durable fibre for durable MDF – testing Tricoya®
2015 - IRG/WP 15-40704
The chemical modification of wood has been a commercial reality for a decade on release of technologies for the modification of solid wood including Accoya®. A challenge and an opportunity for the modification technologies which typically impart dimensional stability, water stability and enhanced biological durability was the adaptation of the technology to wood based panels. This paper presents ...
E Suttie, J Alexander, M Maes
Performance if internal remedial treatments to arrest fungal attack in poles and large timbers
2018 - IRG/WP 18-40834
Internal remedial treatments have been used to arrest internal fungal attack in utility poles and other large timbers. Water diffusible systems and volatile fumigants have both been used for this purpose. While both work, it is important to understand the performance attributes of each system. This paper reviews the literature on both systems and makes recommendations for future research....
J J Morrell
Decay resistance of high performance biocomposites based on chemically modified fibres
1998 - IRG/WP 98-40120
Different partners within the framework of a European research project produced high performance biocomposites aiming at the utilisation of board materials as durable products both in dimensional and biological degrading circumstances. This paper summarises test data, which indicate the potential of board materials produced with modified fibre material. The chemical modifications applied cover a r...
V Rijckaert, J Van Acker, M Stevens
Performance of treated and untreated sawn fence posts of Scots pine and Norway spruce
2000 - IRG/WP 00-30247
Sawn fence posts are a rather important product and the objective of this trial was to assess their durability. In 1985 a field trial with treated and untreated fence posts of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) was set out at the test field in Ultuna, Uppsala, Sweden. The posts had a dimension of 75 x 100 x 1400 mm3. The preservatives applied were a CCA, a...
Ö Bergman
The effect of treatment temperature on the biological performance of CCA treated wood
1990 - IRG/WP 3624
Birch and Scots pine sapwood blocks were treated with several concentrations of CCA at three different temperatures: 5, 20 and 35°C. The treated wood was maintained at the appropriate temperature for the fixation period. Leached and unleached samples were then exposed in a soft rot monoculture test using Chaetomium globosum and a brown rot monoculture test using Coniophora puteana. The treatment ...
S M Gray