0New Technology Transforms Wood Waste Into High Value Hardwood

Wood Waste Into High Value Hardwood

Wood is a hard, fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It has been used for thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibbers (which are strong in tension) embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression. Wood is sometimes defined as only the secondary xylem in the stems of trees, or it is defined more broadly to include the same type of tissue elsewhere such as in the roots of trees or shrubs. In a living tree it performs a support function, enabling woody plants to grow large or to stand up by themselves. It also mediates the transfer of water and nutrients to the leaves and other growing tissues. Wood may also refer to other plant materials with comparable properties, and to material engineered from wood, or wood chips or fibber.

The Earth contains about one trillion tonnes of wood, which grows at a rate of 10 billion tonnes per year. As an abundant, carbon neutral renewable resource, woody materials have been of intense interest as a source of renewable energy. In 1991, approximately 3.5 cubic kilometres of wood were harvested. Dominant uses were for furniture and building construction.

Sawmills will soon be able to turn wood waste into high value hardwood products, helping them increase profits at a difficult time.

Company 3RT has partnered with Flinders University to develop a machine that cuts wood offcuts or softwood into strips, sticks them together, and presses them into blocks.

The aim is to increase hardwood supply sustainably, and create market opportunities for mills, that have been struggling with loss of access to native forests, labour shortages, and competition with cheaper imports.

3RT managing director Peter Torreele says the technology is in demand by the industry, and offers more sustainable and cheaper wood production.

"The problem that people do not buy hardwood today, or not enough, is firstly, it's becoming more and more scarce to get it, and secondly, it's very expensive, so we are basically producing the same type of hardwood for a third of the price."

He says the manufacturing unit, the first of which will be built in South Australia early next year, will cost between $3 million and $5 million.

There is also nanotechnology available to make the wood resistant to things like fire.

Now Mr Torreele is contacting mills to gauge interest and individual opportunities.

Timber Queensland welcomes the technology, stating sawmills have been looking for ways to utilise their unused wood fibre.