Methods and systems for obtaining exhaust streams from wood drying processes and controlling emissions in exhaust streams from wood drying processes are provided. Methods and systems can include pre-treatment steps, such as removing particulate matter and/or heating a process exhaust stream from a wood dryer, in order to obtain an exhaust stream that is suitable for downstream recovery of terpenes from said exhaust stream. Exhaust streams can be contacted with a sorbent to remove volatile organic compounds, and other emissions, generating a purified air stream that is able to be released into the environment without further purification or oxidation.

An invention relates to thermal or thermomechanical processing of hygroscopic material to adjust the material properties. The invention concerns a modification arrangement for the hygroscopic material. The modification arrangement comprises a modification unit (202) and a fluid container (204) that is coupled with a control valve (205) to at least one fluid aperture (203). The modification arrangement is configured for heating the hygroscopic material in the modification unit (202) to extract water from it and, in response to opening of the control valve (205), leading fluid from the fluid container through said at least one fluid aperture (203) into the modification unit (202). The modification arrangement further comprises a treatment agent (207) added to the fluid so that the treatment agent (207) is absorbed into the hygroscopic material and modifies it. The treatment agent (207) includes at least one of the following ingredients: a preservative, a dye, a pigment, an aroma, an odour eliminator, a pesticide, an impregnation ingredient, or a fire retardant.

A delignified wood material is formed by removing substantially all of the lignin from natural wood. The resulting delignified wood retains cellulose-based lumina of the natural wood, with nanofibers of the cellulose microfibrils being substantially aligned along a common direction. The unique microstructure and composition of the delignified wood can provide advantageous thermal insulation and mechanical properties, among other advantages described herein. The thermal and mechanical properties of the delignified wood material can be tailored by pressing or densifying the delignified wood, with increased densification yielding improved strength and thermal conductivity. The chemical composition of the delignified wood also offers unique optical properties that enable passive cooling under solar illumination.

A method for producing wood material boards with reduced emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including: a) producing woodchips from suitable timbers; b) heat-treating at least one portion of the woodchips at a temperature between 150 C. and 300 C. for a period of 1 to 5 hours; c) crushing the wood chips that are not heat-treated and at least one portion of the heat-treated woodchips by machining in order to obtain wood shavings or by solubilizing in order to obtain wood fibers; d) gluing the wood shavings or wood fibers with at least one binding agent; e) applying the glued wood shavings onto a transport belt while forming a multi-layered shavings cake or applying the glued wood fibers onto a transport belt while forming a single-layer fiber cake; and f) compressing the shavings cake or the fiber cake to form a wood material board.

A portable electromagnetic wave drying apparatus is provided for the in-situ reduction of moisture in structural members within a wood frame construction. The apparatus comprises at least one electromagnetic wave generation assembly and an electromagnetic wave applicator. Also provided is an electromagnetic wave treatment method for the in-situ reduction of moisture content in a structural member within a wood frame construction. The method comprises contacting a portion of the structural member with electromagnetic waves for a period of not more than 30 minutes and then allowing the structural member to rest for a period of not more than 90 minutes. The apparatus and method are useful in the remediation of wood frame structures that have been exposed to flood waters.

A method for producing wood material boards with reduced emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including: a) producing woodchips from suitable timbers; b) heat-treating at least one portion of the woodchips at a temperature between 150 C. and 300 C. for a period of 1 to 5 hours; c) crushing the wood chips that are not heat-treated and at least one portion of the heat-treated woodchips by machining in order to obtain wood shavings or by solubilizing in order to obtain wood fibers; d) gluing the wood shavings or wood fibers with at least one binding agent; e) applying the glued wood shavings onto a transport belt while forming a multi-layered shavings cake or applying the glued wood fibers onto a transport belt while forming a single-layer fiber cake; and f) compressing the shavings cake or the fiber cake to form a wood material board.

Methods and systems for recovering terpenes and controlling the composition of terpenes collected from wood drying processes are provided. In particular, a sorbent having adsorbed materials, including terpenes, from a wood drying process can be desorbed in a desorber, resulting in a gaseous stream containing terpenes, which can be condensed and collected from the gaseous stream. The conditions of desorption can be controlled to ensure a desirable amount of alpha-pinene and beta-pinene relative to other terpenes, such as dipentene and camphene, in the collected terpenes.

The present invention relates to an improved method for impregnating a porous material, such as wood, more specifically a method in which an active ingredient to be deposited within the porous material is dissolved in condensed carbon dioxide and impregnated in the material

Methods for producing structural materials from lumber are provided. The methods use an oxygen pre-treatment or a carbonate pre-treatment followed by densification via thermal compression to produce structural materials with strong mechanical properties. The pre-treatments are able to partially delignify the lumber without substantially adversely affecting the mechanical properties of the subsequently densified wood.

A piece of natural wood can be immersed in a first solution at a first temperature less than 100? C. and then immersed in a second solution at a second temperature greater than 100? C. so as to form a piece of partially-delignified wood. In some embodiments, the first and second solutions can be the same solution, and the immersion at the second temperature can be heating the solution from the first temperature to the second temperature. The immersion in the first and second solutions can be effective to remove 45-90% of lignin from the piece of natural wood and to destroy a structure of the ray cells in the piece of natural wood while retaining cell walls of the other cells. The partially-delignified wood can then be dried. After drying, the partially-delignified wood can be clastic along its tangential direction but inelastic along its radial and longitudinal directions.