Highly microporous bio-based activated carbon fibers (ACFs) were prepared through a simple reactivation method. Sawdust, as the starting material, was liquefied and melt-spun to produce the precursor fibers. Then, the precursor fibers were activated by KOH and reactivated by steam. By varying the conditions of the two activation processes, the formation mechanism of the pore structure was studi...

When increasing the wood fiber (WF) content in extruded wood fiber/plastic composites (WPC) foams, a good balance between reducing the cost and obtaining good cell morphology should be maintained. This study examines the relationship between WF content and the foam morphology in WPC foams. The role of WF as cell nucleating agent at low concentrations (10 wt.%) was observed, as WPC foam with 10 ...

Manure, an animal waste product with many negative economic and environmental issues, can today be converted using anaerobic digestion technology into a number of commercial products ranging from fertilizer, compost, animal bedding, and plant bedding. A number of new uses are now being explored such as bioenergy (both electrical and biofuel) and a lignocellulose-rich potential feedstock for eng...

This compendium provides extensions to the research first reported in the December 2005 Wood and Fiber Science Special Issue (WFS 2005) devoted to CORRIM’s Reports on Environmental Performance of Wood Building Materials. The Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials (CORRIM) is a nonprofit research consortium made up of 15 research institutions dedicated to developing comprehens...

The angle between helical windings of microfibrils in the secondary cell wall of fibers and the long axis is called microfibril angle (MFA). Stiffness of wood depends on variations in the MFA. The large MFA shows low stiffness, which is found in juvenile wood and this character make threes vulnerable to high winds breaking. Timber containing a high proportion of juvenile wood is unsuitable for ...

Decomposition of wood is an important part of the carbon cycle of nature. Decomposition is caused by fungi, insects, and marine borers that use the wood as food or shelter, or both. Lignin in wood provides a physical barrier to enzymatic decomposition of cellulose and hemicelluloses. This barrier is breached mechanically by insects and marine borers, biochemically by whiteand soft-rot fungi, an...

Intensive forest-management practices have been shown to greatly increase the growth rates of southern pines. A joint study was undertaken to evaluate the wood and pulp quality from fast-grown 14,year-old loblolly pine from the Piedmont and 17-year-old slash pine from the Coastal Plain. The properties were compared to 24-year-old plantation-grown controls. Three sets of chip samples, sawmill re...