Publications
NIBIOs employees contribute to several hundred scientific articles and research reports every year. You can browse or search in our collection which contains references and links to these publications as well as other research and dissemination activities. The collection is continously updated with new and historical material.
2019
Abstract
Surface mould growth contributes to the colour changes of outdoor exposed wood over time. Modelling mould growth can thus help visualize wooden facades’ colour development, which can improve facade design and service life. However, existing wood mould models do not consider transient wetting effects that occur outdoors due to precipitation and condensation. To address this, four mould models were evaluated using laboratory experimental data that included exposure to transient wetting. First, the models (the original and the updated VTT model, the biohygrothermal model and the mould resistance design (MRD) model) were evaluated for Scots pine sapwood. For this evaluation, the transient wetting effect was implemented in the models by using hourly wood surface relative humidity (RH), calculated from electrical resistance measurements, as input. This showed that the original and the updated VTT model gave best fit to the experimental data. However, further evaluation of these two models for more wood materials showed that the updated VTT model was sensitive to the choice of material parameters. Large discrepancies occurred when varying the material parameters in the updated VTT model. Finally, different estimates of RH were tested in the original VTT model. Using wood surface RH as input gave best fit to the experimental data, and ambient air RH gave poorest fit. Overall, the results indicate that the original VTT model is fairly reliable and can be used to predict mould growth on wooden claddings exposed to transient wetting as long as the wood surface climate is used as climatic input data.
Authors
Lone RossAbstract
No abstract has been registered
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No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Laboratory screening tests are commonly used to indicate wood materials’ resistance or susceptibility to surface mould growth, but the results can deviate from what happens during outdoor exposure. In this study, the aim was to investigate how well agar plate screening tests and water uptake tests can predict mould growth on exterior wooden claddings. The tested wood materials included Norway spruce heartwood (Picea abies), sapwood and heartwood of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), aspen (Populus tremula), acetylated Radiata pine (Pinus radiata) and DMDHEU-modifed Scots pine sapwood. The agar plate test included four inoculation methods (two monoculture spore suspensions of Aureobasidium species, one mixed-culture spore suspension, and inoculation from outdoor air) and three incubation temperatures (5, 16 and 27 °C). Inoculation method and incubation temperature had signifcant efects on the mould rating in the agar plate screening test, but none of the agar plate test combinations gave good indications of outdoor performance. Results from the agar plate test gave signifcantly negative correlations or no signifcant correlation with results from the outdoor test. However, the water uptake test gave signifcantly positive correlations with outdoor mould rating, and could be a useful indicator of susceptibility of uncoated wooden claddings to surface mould growth.
Abstract
This study addresses changes in visual appearance of unpainted wood materials exposed outdoors. Specimens of aspen (Populus tremula), Norway spruce (Picea abies), untreated Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), DMDHEU-modified Scots pine and acetylated Radiata pine (Pinus radiata) were exposed facing south in Ås, Norway for 62 weeks. During this period, mould growth coverage, lightness (L*) and the uniformity of the weather grey colour were assessed. Mould growth coverage was evaluated visually using a rating system. L* and the uniformity were evaluated using image analysis. The increase in mould rating of the wood materials developed in varying speed, but all specimens had reached the maximum rating after 42 weeks. Until then, the changes in L* correlated significantly with the mould rating. However, the specimens continued to darken after they had reached maximum mould rating. DMDHEU was the only material that obtained a more uniform colour as a consequence of the weathering.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Olav Aaseth Hegnar Barry Goodell Claus Felby Lars Johansson Nicolé Labbe Keonhee Kim Vincent Eijsink Gry Alfredsen Aniko VarnaiAbstract
The recalcitrance bottleneck of lignocellulosic materials presents a major challenge for biorefineries, including second-generation biofuel production. Because of their abundance in the northern hemisphere, softwoods, such as Norway spruce, are of major interest as a potential feedstock for biorefineries. In nature, softwoods are primarily degraded by basidiomycetous fungi causing brown rot. These fungi employ a non-enzymatic oxidative system to depolymerize wood cell wall components prior to depolymerization by a limited set of hydrolytic and oxidative enzymes. Here, it is shown that Norway spruce pretreated with two species of brown-rot fungi yielded more than 250% increase in glucose release when treated with a commercial enzyme cocktail and that there is a good correlation between mass loss and the degree of digestibility. A series of experiments was performed aimed at mimicking the brown-rot pretreatment, using a modified version of the Fenton reaction. A small increase in digestibility after pretreatment was shown where the aim was to generate reactive oxygen species within the wood cell wall matrix. Further experiments were performed to assess the possibility of performing pretreatment and saccharification in a single system, and the results indicated the need for a complete separation of oxidative pretreatment and saccharification. A more severe pretreatment was also completed, which interestingly did not yield a more digestible material. It was concluded that a biomimicking approach to pretreatment of softwoods using brown-rot fungal mechanisms is possible, but that there are additional factors of the system that need to be known and optimized before serious advances can be made to compete with already existing pretreatment methods.
Authors
Ed Suttie Christian Brischke Eva Frühwald Hansson Stefania Fortino Jakub Sandak Magdalena Kutnik Gry Alfredsen Christophe Lucas Rod StirlingAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Gry AlfredsenAbstract
No abstract has been registered