Nitrogen explosive decompression pretreatment was tested on barley straw, aspen wood, and pine wood in a two-step approach. The approach aims to avoid the uncontrolled degradation of hemicellulose during recover high sugar yields from cellulose. Additionally, pretreated biomass filtered after each step with fine metal sieve so that fermentation hydrolysis inhibitors were removed. A total yield ...

Indole acetic acid (auxin) is a key regulator of wood formation, and an observed overlap between auxin concentration gradient and developing secondary xylem cells has led to the hypothesis that auxin regulates wood formation by acting as a morphogen. We dissected the role of auxin in wood formation by identifying the auxin-responsive transcriptome in wood-forming tissues and investigating alter...

UNLABELLED Certain wood decay basidiomycetes, collectively referred to as brown rot fungi, rapidly depolymerize cellulose while leaving behind the bulk of cell wall lignin as a modified residue. The mechanism(s) employed is unclear, but considerable evidence implicates the involvement of diffusible oxidants generated via Fenton-like chemistry. Toward a better understanding of this process, we h...

Value Prior to Pulping (VPP) is a novel biorefining concept for pulp mills that includes hydrolysis extraction of hemicellulose wood sugars and acetic acid from pulpwood prior to pulping. The concept involves conversion of wood sugars via fermentation to fuel ethanol or other chemicals and the use of remaining solid wood material in the pulping process. This paper provides an overview of the me...

Mechanical densification of wood involves compressing the wood in radial direction using heat, water and steam to produce a higher density surface exhibiting better mechanical properties. The densified wood is an environmentally friendly product that presents new opportunities for the wood products industry. Wood surface densification involves both soaking and heating. The objective of this stu...

Information about the presence and spatial distribution of white spruce conifer understory within deciduous and deciduous-dominated mixed-wood stands is required for boreal mixed-wood management in Alberta. A set of forest land cover classes was created that consisted of 30 classes described by overstory stand structure and three levels of understory amount. These polygons were overlaid onto tw...