Challenges of Wood Modification Process for Plantation Eucalyptus: A Review of Australian Setting

Abstract

Australia has significant wood resources in its native forest, but the resource available for harvest becomes lesser due to the conversion of native forest to conservation reserves. The natural occurrences of bushfires, droughts, and cyclones are highly destructive, making the situation worse. The shortage of wood resources is having a significant negative impact on Australia because wood is so scarce that they cannot meet domestic demands, especially durable wood. Australia cleared approximately 100 million hectares of its land to establish forest plantations, and two million trees were planted. However, most of these plantations are for pulpwood production; however, their application for high-value products is limited due to their undesirable properties. Wood modification is a process of improving unfavorable wood properties to be utilized for a wide range of applications. Australia has not adopted any of these modification processes; it still depends on the less toxic wood preservative to treat wood. This study focuses on the recent advancement in industrial wood modification worldwide and how it may be used to modify Eucalyptus wood for high-value applications. The opportunities and suggestions for Eucalyptus wood modification in Australia will be discussed. Before the study concludes, the future of commercial wood modification for Eucalyptus plantation in Australia will also be presented.

Physical and Mechanical Properties of Light Red Meranti Treated with Boron Preservatives

“…Wood is a renewable and versatile material that is highly sought after in the 21 st century. The increasing demand for wood products can be reflected in the recent growth of the global forest area that was once on a rapid decline and is projected to grow to 4.1 billion hectares by 2030 (Ghani and Lee, 2021). This trend positively impacts timber industries of countries like Malaysia as wood is the third most important commodity along with oil palm and rubber for international trades and exports for the country.…”

Correlation analysis between mass loss of wood due to thermal modification and equilibrium moisture content of thermally modified wood

“…However, as wood is an eco-friendly biodegradable material, its use is often limited by its susceptibility to decay over the long term. Therefore, to extend the longevity of wood products for a long time, various methods, including physical (drying or thermal modification) and chemical methods (preservative-treatment or acetylation), are used Ghani and Lee 2021;Park and Park 2021;Priadi et al 2021).…”

Text Mining of Wood Science Research Published in Korean and Japanese Journals

“…Wood also requires considerably less energy to produce and process than concrete or steel. Thus, the sustainable use of wood can significantly assist in achieving the goal of carbon neutrality (Ahn et al, 2021;Ghani and Lee, 2021;Hadi et al, 2022;Han and Lee, 2021b;Jang and Kang, 2022b).…”