Pitch pine (P. rigida) wood was treated with superheated steam (SHS) and the subsequent effects due to drying and heat treatment (HT) were observed. The following treatment parameters were tested: 180°C air HT, 220°C air HT, 0.1 MPa-180°C SHS HT, 0.1 MPa-220°C SHS HT, 0.5 MPa-180°C SHS HT, and 0.5 MPa-220°C SHS HT. No drying checks were observed in the specimens (500 × 150 × 50 mm 3 ) treated at 0.5 MPa-220°C SHS and with these treatment parameters, equilibrium moisture content (EMC) was the lowest. Low EMC has an effect on physical properties such as shrinkage, compressive strength parallel to the grain, bending strength, hardness, and decay resistance. Based on the results, it is expected that the green wood in a large scale is possible to be simultaneously dried and heat-treated without occurrence of checks by the SHS HT process.
In this study, green Larix kaempferi lumber was heat-treated by using superheated steam (SHS) at a pilot scale and then various physico-mechanical properties of the heat-treated wood were evaluated and compared with the properties of conventional hot air (HA) heat-treated wood. Decay resistance of brown rot fungi and compressive strength parallel
The effects of the combined treatment of drying and heat treatment using superheated steam (SHS) were studied relative to the changes of the major chemical components in larch wood. The green lumber was dried and heat-treated in SHS conditions of 250°C and 0.5 MPa for 18 h, and the relative percentage contents of sugars, lignin, and extractives were investigated and compared with the relative percentage contents in the lumber heattreated in hot air conditions of 250°C and atmospheric pressure for 18 h. After both heat treatment methods, the relative percentage contents of xylan, mannan, galactan, and arabinan were greatly decreased, whereas that of the Klason lignin was increased, additionally that of glucan and extractives remained almost unchanged. Lignin may bind with furan compounds decomposed from hemicellulose following heat treatment, thus contributing to the increase in the apparent relative percentage contents of the Klason lignin. In addition, the condensate collected in the condenser after combined drying and heat treatment using SHS was investigated qualitatively and quantitatively by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). A large amount of furfural and acetic acid decomposed from hemicellulose was detected and some sugar components composed of cellulose and hemicellulose were detected in the liquid condensate.
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