会议专题

Concept of Using Biomass Boards for Greening Desert

Introduction Decline in natural resources and spread of desertification are becoming major world concerns in recent years. To remedy these problems, utilization of sawdust and woodchips which are being wasted at lumber and forest sites is one of the possible alternatives. Fabrication of binderless boards by compressively molding with high-pressure steam has been developed to respond to the requirement of ecological and sustainable technologies of utilizing these unutilized woody residues. By using this technique, boards can be fabricated without adding any chemical adhesives. These boards are called biomass boards, and they are expected to be utilized as biodegradable and eco-friendly materials. It has been reported that the deformation and the entanglement of particles caused by compression are permanently fixed by high-pressure steam, and this phenomenon induces the adhesion between each particles. This permanent shape fixation is the result of the increase in cellulose crystallinity and transformation of its crystal structure caused by high-pressure steam treatment, and it allows application of this technique not only to woody residues but also the other cellulosic materials, such as agricultural residues, waste paper and cotton. Furthermore, development of fertilizer-impregnated boards has been conducted recently, adding another function to the biomass boards as the fertilizer suppliers. In addition to this development, there are many environmental benefits of using biomass boards on the green sites since they are fabricated from organic residues. In other words, biomass boards can be utilized not only as eco-friendly material, but also as multi-functional mulching materials. Land degradation caused by soil erosion and lack of soil moisture are the major impediments to greening desert, and they need to be ameliorated. Applying biomass boards as mulching material is one of possible ways to ameliorate these problems. Since the biomass boards are biodegradable, the boards are expected to play important roles in soil conservation in the initial stage of greening, and they gradually transfer the soil maintenance roles to the growing forests. This concept of using biomass boards permits formulation of sustainable usage of woody biomass and efficient reforestation cycle. Thus, in this study, the boards erosion controlling ability and soil moisture controlling ability were investigated to evaluate its availability of being utilized in such situation.

Shimpei Nakamura Shohei Hashizume Shinichi Futamura Slaw Onwona-Agyeman Mitsuhiko Tanahashi

Faculty of Applied Biological Sciences, Gifu University, 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu 501-1193, Japan

国际会议

International Symposium on Wood Science and Technology(IAWPS 2008)(国际木材产品学会联合会2008学术研讨会)

哈尔滨

英文

415-416

2008-09-27(万方平台首次上网日期,不代表论文的发表时间)