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Fouling organisms as indicators of the environmental impact of marine preservative-treated wood
1995 - IRG/WP 95-50063
This study evaluates the use of fouling organisms (epibiota) to assess the environmental impact of preservative treated wood. This paper presents initial findings from treated panels exposed for 6 months at Sagres, Algarve, Portugal. Panels were treated with CCA, two copper-containing quaternary ammonium (ACQ) formulations and creosote, with nominal retentions from 10 to 40 kg/m³ (creosote 25 pcf...
R M Albuquerque, S M Cragg


Fouling assemblage development on copper-chromium-arsenic-treated timber submerged in European waters
2002 - IRG/WP 02-50181
The effect of the anti-marine-borer timber preservative CCA on community development of non-target marine fouling animals was investigated. Panels of Scots pine treated to target retentions of 12, 24 and 48 kg CCA per m3 of wood, plus untreated controls were submerged at seven coastal sites (Portsmouth, UK; La Tremblade (2 sites), France; Ria Formosa, Portugal; Sagres, Portugal; Kristineberg, Swed...
C Brown, R J Eaton, S M Cragg, P Goulletquer, A Nicolaidou, M J Bebianno, J Icely, G F Daniel, T Nilsson, A J Pitman, G Sawyer


Evaluation of impact of CCA-treated wood on the marine environment
1995 - IRG/WP 95-50040-15
This paper reviews the literature relating to the potential of CCA-treated wood to affect the marine environment and outlines the compounds required for a model which could be used to predict the environemental impact of maritime construction using such timber. Marine pilings require high loadings of CCA to provide protection from marine borers. Though loadings of 32-48 kg/m³ provide long-term pr...
R M Albuquerque, S M Cragg


Environmental evaluation of products by life cycle analysis [La problématique de lévaluation environnementale des produits à partir de l'analyse de leur cycle de vie et de leur "écobilan"]
1993 - IRG/WP 93-50002
In the last years a significant evolution in terms of industrial environment emerged. It has been realized that regulations on specific pollutants, controls on industrial sites, although indispensable actions, had to be completed with extended approaches based on the assessment of products and integrated substance chain management. To take into account such an approach, methodological researches h...
G C Landrieu


Assessment of the environmental impacts in life cycle analysis
1995 - IRG/WP 95-50040-31
Evaluation of environmental impacts is of crucial importance nowadays but it is a complex problem. Different methodologies have been proposed for the last 20 years such as the "Life Cycle Assessment" (LCA) approach. Life Cycle Assessment is an evalution tool of the impacts on the environment of a system including the whole activities associated with, from the extraction of the raw materials to the...
I Blanc-Sommereux


Biological and chemical investigations for the assessment of the environmental impact of wood preservative components
1999 - IRG/WP 99-50127
This study was carried out in order to investigate the suitability of biological and chemical techniques to evaluate the environmental impact of wood preservatives depleted from impregnated wood. Small specimens (15*25*50 mm3) of Scots pine sapwood (Pinus sylvestris) were treated with a CCB salt. After fixation the treated and untreated samples were washed-out according EN 84, and the different le...
E Melcher, H-W Wegen


Proposal for a method aiming at the quantification of the impact of wood extraction in Life Cycle Assessment
1998 - IRG/WP 98-50113
Life Cycle Assessment has been accepted as an instrument for the assessment of the environmental impact of products. Characterisation factors for impact assessment of emissions from products have been established. To date no characterisation factor exists for the extraction of biotic resources, for example wood. Since the main disadvantage of using wood as a material lies in the extraction of reso...
P Esser, E Van der Voet


Ecotox Testing of Leachates as an Alternative Approach for Environmental Impact Assessment of Wood Preservatives
2002 - IRG/WP 02-50185
Driven by the implementation of the EU Biocidal Product Directive (BPD) in the environmental assessment of treated wood different methodologies and test strategies are at present under discussion within industry, regulatory authorities and standardizing comittees. Test procedures for the analytical determination of emissions to different environmental compartments according to exposure scenario...
H-W Wegen


Changes in some important mechanical and physical properties of untreated and treated mining timber after exposure to the conditions of a colliery
1996 - IRG/WP 96-20082
Each of salt treated and untreated mining timber (wedge) pairs with 5x15 cm² cross-section and 155 cm length prepared from Scots pine, Bornmüller's fir and oriental beech was cut in the small standard test specimens to determine changes in some important mechanical and physical properties, 13 month after exposure to the conditions of Kozlu Hard Coal Mines in the depth of 52 m. Thus, the...
A Bobat


Influence of water-borne preservatives on water repellency and the impact of addition of water repellent additives
1992 - IRG/WP 92-3704
The primary goal of a desirable wood preservative system is to effectively control decay fungi and other biodeteriogens in service. The water repellent nature of a given system may play an important role in the protection of wood. In this study, the water repellency of several water-borne preservative systems has been evaluated by measurements of tangential swelling during immersion. The systems i...
L Jin, D M Roberts, A F Preston


Impact of leachates from CCA- and copper azole-treated pine decking on soil-dwelling invertebrates
2002 - IRG/WP 02-50183
This study assessed the short-term effects on non-target soil invertebrates of leachates from a naturally durable hardwood and timber treated with two copper-based wood preservatives. Natural rainwater leachates from kwila decking, and radiata pine-decking treated with CCA or copper-azole, were collected and applied on mown lawn soil in Brisbane, Queensland. The soil study consisted of 5 treatment...
N Crumière, A House, M J Kennedy


Fluoride and chromium concentrations in soil adjacent to remedially treated distribution poles
1996 - IRG/WP 96-50066
Soils adjacent to Rentex treated 'on-line' distribution poles were analysed for total fluoride and chromium content for comparison with background values of these elements. Soil samples 6 cm and 25 cm downslope of selected poles were recovered at 1 week, 1 month, 6 and 12 months after treatment. Background soil samples were taken 50 m from the poles at sampling times. Fourteen po...
D C R Sinclair, G M Smith, A Bruce, H J Staines, P Durrant


Alternative methodology for the environmental impact assessment of treated wood: the wood emissions ecotoxicology
2000 - IRG/WP 00-50161
Preservative products and technologies are important for optimising the use of wood and wood products in our society. The regulations of their use under the european Biocidal Products Directive 98/8/EC will require an evaluation of the environmental impact of treated wood. The methodology currently used for this determination is the PEC/PNEC ratio. It consists of calculating PEC values (Predictive...
P Marchal, H W Wegen, J Van Acker, E Melcher, R-D Peek, W J Homan, D Aston, D Rudolph, E F Baines


Minimisation of the Environmental Impacts of Coatings on Exterior Wood by Optimisation of their Life Spans
2003 - IRG/WP 03-50197
The study has shown that the environmental impacts from coatings on exterior wood are dependent criteria on their life spans. A minimisation of the environmental impacts can be performed with the help of the integrated design model, which is tested in this study. The optimal life spans, found as reference service lives from the exposure tests, statistical evaluation and the assessment of experts w...
L Strömberg


Effects of CCA treatment on settlement and growth of barnacles under field conditions
1998 - IRG/WP 98-50116
As part of a field experiment at seven European marine sites evaluating the effects of CCA treatments on non-target marine organisms, panels treated to nominal loadings of 12, 24 and 48 kg/m3 CCA were exposed at marine sites around the coast of Europe. Within two weeks of exposure, a heavy settlement of barnacles took place on the panels exposed intertidally in France. The intensity of settlement ...
S M Cragg, C Brown, R M Albuquerque, R A Eaton, P Goulletquer


Environmental impact of PCP and NaPCP in the aquatic and atmospheric compartment
1995 - IRG/WP 95-50040-06
PCP and NaPCP were studied for their aquatic toxicity on bacteria, microalgae and daphnids and for their behaviour in the atmospheric compartment with a climatic chamber. Results of aquatic toxicity bioassays showed that toxicity was higher at low pH. This can be explained by the pKa value of 4.7 of PCP and the higher concentration of the non dissociated form of the pesticide at more acidic pH. Vo...
P Marchal, P Vasseur, G Ozanne


Social and economocal impact of an extension of service life resulting of an adequate preventive treatment. Application to wooden components used in urban areas with a high density of population
1993 - IRG/WP 93-50001-15
Le document évalue les problèmes rencontrés en zone urbaine pour le sauvetage des constructions: coordination de la lutte, délimination des chantieres et des périmètres d'investigation, nuisances causées par les interventions, risques pour la santé, risques pour l'environnement. Coûts. Comparaison socio-économique du traitement préventif et des interventions à posteri...
A T De Lelis, G A C Lopez


High-energy multiple impact (HEMI)-test – Part 2: A mechanical test for the detection of fungal decay
2006 - IRG/WP 06-20339
The suitability of the high-energy multiple impact (HEMI)-test for detection of early fungal decay was examined. The HEMI – test characterizes the treatment quality of thermally modified wood by stressing the treated material by thousands of impacts of pounding steel balls. This method differentiates between heat treatment intensities, which are expressed by structural changes of the wood. Simil...
C R Welzbacher, C Brischke, A O Rapp


High-energy multiple impact (HEMI)-test – Part 1: A new tool for quality control of thermally modified timber
2006 - IRG/WP 06-20346
Thermal modification processes improve durability and dimensional stability of wood, but the strength properties, especially the dynamic ones, are compromised and need to be considered with respect to industrial quality control. Results from standard dynamic strength testing, such as impact bending tests, suffer from high variability, and therefore require a high number of replicates. To overcome ...
C Brischke, A O Rapp, C R Welzbacher


Mechanical strength of wood from the Vasa shipwreck
2008 - IRG/WP 08-20381
Samples from three ancient ship wrecks (Vasa, Elefanten, and Gröne Jägaren) and recent oak samples as reference were examined with regard to mechanical strength using the high-energy multiple impact (HEMI) - test method, which delivers the resistance to impact milling (RIM) of a material. Adoption and optimisation of the test method for the particular sample size of the wooden drilling cores was...
A O Rapp, C Brischke, C R Welzbacher, T Nilsson, C Björdal


The effect of gamma radiation on selected wood properties
2008 - IRG/WP 08-40394
As an easy, fast, and effective sterilisation method, gamma irradiation changes molecular structures not only in pest’s living cells, but also in wooden cell walls. Radiation-induced depolymerisation causes significant changes in some properties of wood crucial for restoration and for laboratory testing of wood-preservative effectiveness. The influence of gamma radiation concerning total amount ...
R Despot, M Hasan, A O Rapp, C Brischke, C R Welzbacher


Material properties of acetylated beech plywood
2008 - IRG/WP 08-40425
The effect of acetylation process on dimensional stability and mechanical properties of plywood made by Oriental beech layers (Fagus orientalis Lipsky) were studied. The layers cut into sizes of 200×200×2 mm and acetylated in 120°C for 30 and 60 min. Thickness swelling (TS%), water absorption (WA%) and anti-swelling¬ efficiency (ASE%) of specimens were measured. Mechanical properties (MOE, MO...
A Talaei


Drywood termites in the Azores: Problems and tentative solutions
2009 - IRG/WP 09-10698
The detection in 2002 of drywood termites in the islands of Azores has became an urgent issue to be coped with given the fast degradation that structural elements can show after a short period of installation of a colony. A recent study indicates drywood termite presence in about half of the buildings of the historic centre of Angra do Heroísmo (a World Heritage site) in Terceira Island and timbe...
L Nunes, C Amaral, S Duarte, M Gaju


Impact of decay and blue stain causing fungi on the structural integrity of wood
2009 - IRG/WP 09-10699
The potential influence of diverse decay patterns caused by different brown rot provoking basidiomycetes on the structural integrity of wood was investigated. Additionally the potential impact of blue stain on the structural integrity was examined. Therefore decayed Norway spruce (Picea abies Karst.) specimens representing a wide range of mass loss, caused by four different brown-rot fungi and one...
C Brischke, C Welzbacher, T Huckfeldt, F Schuh


Impact of an Antioxidant on the Efficacy of Quaternary Ammonium Compounds (Quats) and Triazoles – Seven Year Above-Ground Study
2009 - IRG/WP 09-30504
It has been reported that antioxidants have great potential for use with organic biocides in the area of wood protection. This paper demonstrates the impact of a low level of the antioxidant butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) on the efficacy of quat-based and triazole-based formulations. A seven year lap joint test revealed a positive effect of BHT on the efficacy of quat-based formulations, especiall...
Xiao Jiang, D Biro, W Holcombe


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