The present invention provides a paraffin-reinforced wood and a method for manufacturing the same, and more specifically, a paraffin-reinforced wood in which a natural wood is vacuum impregnated with dissolved paraffin and processed, thereby preventing a penetration of moisture into the wood and increasing durability and corrosion resistance of the wood, such that the reinforced wood is very useful as various deck-wood, agricultural wood posts, water wood posts, etc., and a method and apparatus for manufacturing the same.

A method for improving the hydrophobic properties of a cellulosic material having a measurable moisture content without leaving an acidic residue comprises immersing the material in an inert gas, treating the material at a first temperature of between about 180° F. and about 250° F. with a vapor of silane until the silane reacts with the moisture to form hydroxysilanes and an acid vapor, then treating the material at a second temperature of between about 280° F. and about 350° F. until the hydroxysilanes convert to dehydrated silanes that are diffusely resident in the material, and removing the moisture, the acid vapor and remaining silane vapor until the treated material is substantially acid free.

A continuous wood modification by heat process, that comprises: stacking wooden boards on a trolley at intervals; exerting pressure on said wooden boards; transferring said wooden boards to a heating kiln, pre-heated by microwave and hot air circulation, that has a water vapor flow of 2-5 meter3/hour, a temperature range of 60-100° C., and a humidity range of 50%-100%; transferring said wooden boards to a shallow drying kiln, pre-heated by microwave and hot air circulation, that has a drying temperature of 100-120° C.; transferring said wooden boards to a deep drying kiln, pre-heated by microwave and hot air circulation, that has a drying temperature of 120-120° C., an oxygen content range of 1-10%, and a water vapor flow rate of 1-10 m3/hour; transferring said wooden boards to a carbonization kiln, pre-heated by microwave and hot air circulation, that has a temperature range of 120-180° C., an oxygen content range of 1%-5%; transferring said wooden boards to a slow cooling kiln, that has a temperature range of 120-130° C., and an oxygen content range of 1%-10%; transferring said wooden boards to a fast cooling kiln, that has a temperature range of 90-100° C.; transferring said wooden boards to a rewetting kiln, that has a humidity range of 50%-100%; providing water vapor to said rewetting kiln; while being in said rewetting kiln, and when a temperature range of said wooden boards is 40-60° C., and a moisture content of said wooden boards is 6%-10%, transferring said wooden boards out of said rewetting kiln; wherein each of said heating kiln, said shallow drying kiln, said deep drying kiln, said carbonization kiln, said slow cooling kiln, said fast cooling kiln, and said rewetting kiln comprises a fan, a partition board, a shunt hood, and an exhaust port; wherein said partition board divides an interior of each of said heating kiln, said shallow drying kiln, said deep drying kiln, said carbonization kiln, said slow cooling kiln, said fast cooling kiln, and said rewetting kiln into an upper chamber and a lower chamber; wherein said shunt hood is disposed in said upper chamber; wherein said fan, said shunt hood, and said lower chamber are connected and form a air channel; wherein said lower chamber comprises a shunt plate, disposed along left and right walls of a kiln; wherein said shunting plate comprises a plurality of sieve holes that are disposed gradually dense from top to bottom; wherein one end of said shunt plate is connected with said partition board and the other end is connected with the bottom of a kiln.

A method of heat treating a wood board comprises: passing a wood board from an input end to a discharge end of a conveyor; and heating the board with radiant heat as it is passes along the conveyor, the heating can be such as to provide significant charring of the wood. The wood board is then brushed with at least one rotating brush. An apparatus, for carrying out the method, has a conveyor for conveying a wood board having an input end and a discharge end. A radiant heater is located above the conveyor for heating the wood board, and a rotating brush is mounted for rotation above the conveyor, for brushing the wood board after heating.

Disclosed is a process for the treatment of wood strands suitable for the manufacture of OSB boards, in which the wood strands are treated with steam without drying after extraction, the steam being passed over the wood strands at a temperature between 80° C. and 120° C. and a pressure between 0.5 bar and 2 bar. Also disclosed is a process for the production of OSB wood-based boards including the steps of a) producing wood strands from suitable wood logs; b) treating at least part of the wood strands with steam; c) drying the steam-treated wood strands; d) gluing the steam-treated and dried wood strands and gluing the non-steam-treated wood strands with at least one binder; e) scattering the glued wood strands onto a conveyor belt; and f) pressing the glued wood strands into an OSB wood-based board.

A process for treating lignocellulosic pieces with a water-soluble lignocellulosic material preservative. The process comprises the step of contacting the lignocellulosic pieces with a water-based preservative solution having a contact temperature between about 70 C. and about 95 C., the water-based preservative solution containing the water-soluble lignocellulosic material preservative in a concentration above about 25% wt. A lignocellulosic treatment apparatus for treating lignocellulosic pieces is also provided.

Near InfraRed NIR technology, including NIR cameras and detectors, and machine learning methods and systems, including one or more Machine Learning (ML) based surface irregularity prediction models, are used to accurately identify surface irregularities on a surface of a wood product, such as a veneer sheet or ribbon, and provide irregularity prediction data for the wood product. Based on the irregularity prediction data for a given wood product, one or more actions are taken with respect to wood product or the production process to ensure the wood product is put to the most efficient, effective, and valuable use.

Near InfraRed NIR technology, including NIR cameras and detectors, are used to detect irregularity in the surface of a wood product. Based on the detected irregularities at various locations in a given wood product, one or more actions are taken with respect to a production process used to produce the wood product to ensure the wood product is put to the most efficient, effective, and valuable use.

Methods and articles of manufacture relating to engineered hardwood flooring are provided. Engineered hardwood flooring is produced by drying a structural layer comprising a hardwood to a moisture content from about 0.1% to about 3%, whereupon a cell structure of the hardwood collapses. The dried structural layer is humidified to where the hardwood has an increased moisture content greater than about 3%. First and second outer layers are adhered to respective first and second sides of the structural layer to form an engineered product, the structural layer sandwiched by the first outer layer and the second outer layer.

A method for treating wood packaging materials using Radio Frequency heating includes the steps of heating wood packaging materials using RF heating and applying a pressure before the heating or incrementally applying a pressure during the heating until a temperature of the wood packaging materials reaches at least 60 C. and that temperature is maintained for at least 1 minute.