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Sustainability Through New Technologies for Enhanced Wood Durability. COST Action E37 – A New Action in the Forestry Domain
2004 - IRG/WP 04-40293
The main overall objective of the action is to concentrate on the contribution of wood durability on the sustainability through the development of systems for quality assurance and perfoamance of modified wood and wood products as alternatives to wood treated with traditional preservatives. By this means it seeks to improve and consequently increase the cost-effective use of sustainably produced E...
R-D Peek


Life Cycle Assessment of borate treated wood
2005 - IRG/WP 05-50224-12
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is being used increasingly around the world by decision-makers to help incorporate the environmental component of sustainability into their activities. U.S. Borax regularly assesses how its products contribute to sustainable development. Using data gleaned from LCA of its products, the company recently completed its first ISO 14040 compliant cradle-to-grave LCA of lum...
M J Manning


COST Action E37. Sustainability Through New Technologies For Enhanced Wood Durability -
2008 - IRG/WP 08-40417
The main overall objective of the Action was to concentrate on the contribution of wood durability to sustainability through the development of systems for quality assurance and performance classification of modified wood and wood products as alternatives to wood treated with traditional preservatives. By this means it seeked to improve and consequently to increase the cost-effective use of compon...
R-D Peek, J Van Acker


Towards designing eco-friendly buildings with in-built termite protection
2010 - IRG/WP 10-50273
The increase in greenhouse gases, leading to global warming, is considered by a consistent scientific worldview not due to natural variation, but due to the growing concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and other atmospheric pollutants. Global emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel combustion and cement production rose from 22.6 billion tons in 1990 to an estimated 31.2 billio...
J R J French, B M Ahmed Shiday, B Maggiolo, D Maggiolo


Increased sustainability for wood construction by recycling
2011 - IRG/WP 10-50275
Wood is the only renewable and certified industrially available construction material that has also unique opportunities as carbon storing, energy-independent and generally approved resource. However, if burning into energy is not counted, there are only few viable and competitive solutions for re-use or recycling of various wood products. The biggest challenge related to recycling of wood product...
H Heräjärvi, I Pirhonen, T Räty, P Saukkola


Lignin Modification to Produce Sustainable Polyurethane Resin for Wood Coatings
2014 - IRG/WP 14-40682
The use of lignin as the most abundant aromatic natural polymer has been evaluated for use in the production of lignin-based polyurethane resin for coating applications. Coatings are made of resins (ca. 50%), which today are mainly derived from petroleum-based polymers. This study is focused on the development of an environmentally friendly method of modifying lignin to be used as source of natura...
M Nejad, M Arefmanesh, S Chandra, J Mostaghimi, E Master


Lignin-Based Adhesive for Engineered Wood Products
2016 - IRG/WP 16-50319
Lignin as a naturally occurring polyphenolic compound has an excellent potential to replace petroleum-based phenol in formulation of phenol-formaldehyde adhesive that are used in manufacturing of engineered wood products. However, there are three major obstacles in application of polymeric lignin as phenol replacement: 1) low reactivity toward phenol, 2) high molecular weight, and 3) high polydisp...
I Kalami, M Arefmanesh, E Master, M Nejad


Bio-preservative properties of technical lignins from South African pulp mills: An investigation towards a conceptualized development of natural compound-based wood preservatives
2018 - IRG/WP 18-30724
The depletion of naturally durable timber and the risk posed by some of the conventional wood preservatives to human health and the environment continue to drive research efforts towards developing new formulations that are benign. Furthermore, the global concept of environmental sustainability aims at optimal use of resources and to comprehensively include conversion of waste to value added produ...
A Alade, L Tyhoda, M Meincken


Environmental protection and long term in-service sustainability of preserved wooden poles is secured by non-toxic barrier protection system – History and case studies in South Africa
2018 - IRG/WP 18-50340
Non-toxic flexible sheeting systems have been developed to encapsulate the ground contact regions of preserved wooden poles and prevent their premature failure in South Africa since 1992 but the technology also has a long history of resistance by individuals with vested interests in the built-in redundancies of such poles. The concept has, however, been simultaneously validated by many independent...
A A W Baecker


Pest and pathogens threaten the sustainability of plantation forestry: Global research collaboration will define the future
2018 - IRG/WP 18-50341
Global plantation forestry is dominated by intensively managed stands of Pinus, Populus, Acacia and Eucalyptus species. The greater proportion of these plantations has been established in areas where the trees are non-native and have thus been separated from their natural enemies. In all documented cases, these plantations have initially been free of serious pest and disease problems. But as ti...
M Wingfield


Potential of totora and derivatives as sustainable lignocellulosic material
2019 - IRG/WP 19-40859
Totora (Schoenoplectus californicus C.A. Mey. Soják) is a macrophyte from the Cyperaceae family that grows in the Americas from California to Chile. This plant has long been used by several cultures such as the Ohlone in California, the Moche in Peru, or the Incas in Los Andes. Some communities have maintained its traditional use until the present, such as the communities living nearby Lake San P...
J F Hidalgo-Cordero, D Casado, J García, L Robertson, M T Troya


DuraSoft Project: a multidisciplinary approach for softwood protection
2021 - IRG/WP 21-50367
Over the course of millennia, fishing and agro-pastoral activities have produced unique housing types in the Italian lagoons and in the Slovenian highlands where the use of wood is predominant. They are associated with wooden service infrastructures such as piers, moorings, piling and fences. However, the existence of these structures and the associated cultural heritage are subject to constant ...
I Guarneri, V Moschino, N Nesto, T Marceta, M Sigovini, E Borella di Torre, L Dametto, S Pasqual, M Humar, B Lesar, T Cibic, V Natali, E di Poi, F Cerino, D Formasaro, M Kralj, F Relitti, C Balestra, M Celussi, A Franzo, A Volpi Ghirardini, M Picone, G G Distefano, M Russo, D Marchetto, R Rakar, I Trobec, D Marinic, G Rep, N Thaler, T Galvan, R Lazzarini, F Gombac, D Tagliapietra


An Update on the Status of Industrial Heavy-Duty Preservatives in Europe
2022 - IRG/WP 22-30762
Creosote has been used for over 150 years for preservation of heavy duty industrial timbers such as railway sleepers, utility poles, and agricultural posts. The regulatory regimes in place today across Europe (eg EU & GB Biocidal Products Regulation (BPR)) require a detailed assessment of the environmental and human health properties of wood preservatives at both the active substance and product l...
S Uphill, H Griffiths, M Giannuzzi, A Hughes


A new project - Circular use of wood in Norway for improved sustainability and innovation (CircWOOD)
2022 - IRG/WP 22-50369
In Norway, around 12 m3 timber are logged each year. If our society is to succeed in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, it is expected that the need for resources will be significantly greater than that. Recycled wood will be a crucial input factor through new reuse and material recycling solutions. In order to close knowledge gaps related to the availability and quality of recycled wood, the ...
L Ross, L Huang, E Trømborg, R Modaresi, H Sjøli, C A S Hill


Tree bark as a renewable source of wood protection materials for building applications (BarkBuild)
2023 - IRG/WP 23-30792
The BarkBuild project aims to address climate change mitigation by developing new, sustainable, and long-lasting wood building materials with low environmental impact. The project focuses on developing bark-based wood protection and building formulations that demonstrate technical performance, safety, and sustainability in both outdoor and indoor applications. The research objectives of the projec...
A Treu, M Sipponen


Improving American Hardwoods Sustainability, Durability and Markets
2023 - IRG/WP 23-50378
The American hardwood industry, which dates back to the first European settlers, has a wealth of experience processing the native hardwoods of North America. The US hardwood resource is mainly located in the eastern United States, from Maine in the North to the Gulf of Mexico in the South and westwards to the Mississippi Valley. The USA has more temperate hardwood species than any other world regi...
D Brooks, M Snow


Fungicidal properties of black liquor from the waste MDF board digestion in terms of wood protection
2023 - IRG/WP 23-50379
The aim of the work was to determine the fungicidal properties of black liquor as a product of the chemical digestion of waste MDF board. The resistance of wood treated with black liquor from MDF waste pulping process was compared with the resistance of wood treated with black liquor from the pulping process of a by-product from agricultural production. The control material consisted of non-treate...
B Mazela, W Perdoch, A Szulc, I Sieminska