The goal of this study was to predict lamina yield from logs of different diameter for production of cross laminated timber. Log characteristics of red pine (Pinus densiflora) and Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica), including diameter, length, volume, and defects were used for statistical and geometrical analyses, along with the lamina characteristics, including width, thickness, and defects. Based on the data obtained, the strong factors influencing the yield and grade of lamina from the two species were statistically evaluated. A geometrical approach was used for analysis of the yield from logs of given diameters. Statistical analysis showed that lamina yield was dependent on target lamina size but the grade of lamina was not related to any of the log characteristics. The suggested yield equations from the geometrical approach indicated an accuracy of less than 20% difference.

This study evaluates the economic feasibility of industrializing fluidized bed dryer for wood particles. The theoretically required heat energy and energy efficiency were evaluated using a pilot scale fluidized bed dryer. When Mongolian Oak wood particles with 50% initial moisture content were dried in the fluidized bed dryer with air of $70^{\circ}C$ air circulating at 1.1-1.3 m/s for 30 minutes, the total theoretically required heat energy was 2,177 kJ. Of this, 1,763 kJ (approximately 81.0%) was used to heat the air flowing in from outside the dryer and 386 kJ (approximately 17.7%) was used to heat and remove water from the wood particles. Actual energy consumed was 7,560 kJ, giving energy efficiency of 28.8%. Thus, to industrialize a drying method such as fluidized bed drying, where the dryer volume is significantly larger than the volume of wood particles, it is necessary to minimize energy loss and maximize energy efficiency by designing the dryer size considering the amount of wood particles and choosing a suitable air circulation rate.

Relatively little information is available regarding the correlation between wood and veneer quality, especially for Samama wood, an endemic wood species in eastern Indonesia. This study addresses the quality of 8 years old Samama wood and its effect on the veneer quality. Samama wood quality was determined by evaluating its specific gravity, moisture content, fiber dimensions, and microfibril angle from pith toward bark. Meanwhile, veneer quality was assessed by examining veneer thickness and lathe check characteristics. Geometry factor model was constructed to elaborate the quantities of lathe check from pith toward bark. Results show that fair variations of veneer thickness, ranging from 1.5 mm to 3.0 mm, could be obtained from Samama wood. The quantity, depth, and length of lathe check were noticeably decreasing toward bark. Further, in the same manufacturing process, geometry factor was determined as the dominant factor over other wood properties in affecting the frequency of lathe checks from pith towards bark. These facts should be put into consideration in producing veneer from Samama wood. Moreover, these results enlighten the potential of Samama wood as plywood and other excellent veneer-based products.

The objective of this study was to improve physical and mechanical properties of soft-inner part of oil palm trunk (S-OPT) after impregnation with phenol formaldehyde (PF) resin and densification by close system compression (CSC) method. Effect of different methods of PF resin impregnation (i.e., no vacuum-pressure, vacuum, and vacuum-pressure) was evaluated. The results showed that PF resin impregnation and CSC significantly improved the physical and mechanical properties of S-OPT up to: (1) 176% in density; (2) 309% in modulus of rupture (MOR); (3) 287% modulus of elasticity (MOE); and (4) 191% in the compressive strength. Physical and mechanical properties of S-OPT showed their best performances when PF resin impregnated with vacuum-pressure method as shown by higher weight gain, density, MOR, MOE, compressive strength, and lower recovery of set due to better penetration of PF resin into S-OPT. Combining PF resin impregnation and densification by CSC method could be a good method to improve physical and mechanical properties of S-OPT.

Wood-plastic composite (WPC) is a promising and sustainable material, and refers to a combination of wood and plastic along with some binding (adhesive) materials. In comparison to pure wood material, WPCs are in general have advantages of being cost effective, high durability, moisture resistance, and microbial resistance. The properties of WPCs come directly from the concentration of different components in composite; such as wood flour concentration directly affect mechanical and physical properties of WPCs. In this study, wood powder concentration in WPC was determined by Fourier transform near-infrared (FT-NIR) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The reflectance spectra from WPC in both powdered and tableted form with five different concentrations of wood powder were collected and preprocessed to remove noise caused by several factors. To correlate the collected spectra with wood powder concentration, multivariate calibration method of partial least squares (PLS) was applied. During validation with an independent set of samples, good correlations with reference values were demonstrated for both FT-NIR and FT-IR data sets. In addition, high coefficient of determination (${R^2}_p$) and lower standard error of prediction (SEP) was yielded for tableted WPC than powdered WPC. The combination of FT-NIR and FT-IR spectral region was also studied. The results presented here showed that the use of both zones improved the determination accuracy for powdered WPC; however, no improvement in prediction result was achieved for tableted WPCs. The results obtained suggest that these spectroscopic techniques are a useful tool for fast and nondestructive determination of wood concentration in WPCs and have potential to replace conventional methods.

This study was conducted to compare and analyze gross calorific values from measurement methods of lignocellulosic biomass and calculation data from calorific value prediction models based on the elemental content. The deviation of Liriodendron tulipifera (LT) and Populus euramericana (PE) was shown 7.7 cal/g and 7.4 cal/g respectively in palletization method, which are within repeatability limit 28.8 cal/g of ISO FDIS 18125. In the case of Thailand charcoal (TC), nontreatment method and palletization method was satisfied with repeatability limit as 22.8 cal/g and 8.8 cal/g respectively. Seowon charcoal (SC) was shown deviation of 11.4 cal/g in nontreatment method, because the density and chemical affinity of sample increases as the carbon content increases from heat treatment at high temperature in the case of TC and SC. In addition, after applying the elemental content of each of these samples to the calorific value prediction models, the study found that Model Equation (3) was relatively consistent with measured calorific values of all these lignocellulosic biomass. Thus, study about the correlation between the density and size of particle should be conducted in order to select the measurement method for a wide range of solid biofuels in the future.

Demand of natural interior finishing material has been widely sprayed in nowadays because many weak people as children, pregnant women, and elder people are being struggled with sick house syndrome due to volatile organic compounds such as formaldehyde, toluene, benzene, etc. Our research group developed a no-added formaldehyde adhesive for wood-based panels from mainly rice powder and some additives in the previous study for abating sick house syndrome. Since the rice powder adhesive provides a good source of nutrients with microorganisms, it was suspected a susceptibility of the rice powder adhesive to fungal and sapstain attack. We evaluated anti-sapstain activity of the rice powder adhesives modified by adding wood preservatives. We modified the rice powder adhesive by adding three different types of anti-sapstain preservatives at three different concentrations to assess their anti-sapstin activity. The bonding strengths of the modified rice powder adhesives were still outstanding performance on all samples. Moreover, the plywood manufactured with the modified rice powder adhesive satisfied outdoor use requirement for ordinary plywood (KS F3101, Korean Standard). The results obtained showed that at least 3% of preservative should be added to the rice powder adhesive to obtain effective anti-sapstain activity.

To evaluate the resistance of wood to decay caused by fungi, sapwood and heartwood of red pine (Pinus densiflora) and sapwood and heartwood of larch (Larix kaempferi) were conducted. Wood samples were immersed for 96 h in pyroligneous liquor. Then, the brown-rot fungus, Fomitopsis palustris, was used to examine the decay resistance of red pine and larch. Weight and density of wood from the all conditions increased after immersion treatment. Weight loss after decay resistance test was also dropped with a immersion treatment. The lowest weight loss indicated at immersion-treated heartwood of larch. Immersion treatment using pyroligneous liquor effectively increased the resistance of wood to decay caused by fungi.

Paulownia tomentosa is one of fast-growing wood species in Korea. In order to evaluate the solid bioenergy properties of Paulownia tree, this study examined the heating value, moisture content (MC), pH and proximate analysis of stem, branch, root, bark and leaf. The heating values of wood parts were slightly higher than those of bark and leaf, and that of branch was the highest among all the samples. The higher moisture content of bark and leaf referred to their lower heating value. Also, the pH of stem, branch and root was similar and lower than those of bark and leaf. The ash content of bark and leaf was much higher than that of wood parts, which is the one of the reasons for effect on the lower heating value and higher pH. While, the volatile matter content (VMC) of bark and leaf was lower than those of wood parts. The bark showed the highest fixed carbon content (FCC), while the FCC of stem was the lowest among all the samples. The obtained results are encouraging that the Paulownia tree could be totally utilized as alternative fuels for bioenergy production.

This study was conducted to identify wood species from main pillars of Daeungjeon Hall, the main building of Jeonghyesa Temple located in Suncheon, Jeollanamdo Province in Korea. It was known that this temple had been built in the $8^{th}$ century by Hyeso, a national master in the Unified Silla period, and was designated as Treasure No. 804 in 1984 due to its historic and academic values. The results of wood species identification showed that main pillars from Daeungjeon Hall of the Jeonghyesa Temple were made of hard pine, Korean fir (Abies spp.) and Zelkova tree (Zelkova spp.). In addition to the wood species identification, floor plan documentation was also done to help identify what wood species had been used for main pillars. These results could be applied and utilized for the conservation and restoration of Daeungjeon Hall in future. This study may help with the authenticity of conservation works.

Morphological and anatomical evaluation of grafted P. merkusii have been undertaken to obtain the information about compatible and incompatible symptoms of 18 years old grafts based on morphological observation and microscopic analysis. Samples of compatible and incompatible grafts were obtained from previous research conducted by the Silviculture Departement Team in 1994. Result showed that compatible grafts have normal stem form and secondary growth (diameter growth), but some abnormality symptoms like undulated pattern of annual growth rings, phloem thickening and abnormality resin ducts in inner and middle parts of the union area occurred. Incompatible ones showed abnormality of the stem form, cortex-bark necrosis and swelling in the union area. Microscopic observation showed abnormality of all parts of the union, undulated pattern of annual growth rings, phloem thickening, abnormal resin ducts, low numbers and discontinuity of vascular elements in the union area.

This study attempted to measure molecular weight (MW) of melamine-urea-formaldehyde (MUF) resins prepared by two different synthesis methods: the one-step MUF resins were synthesized in one batch procedure, while the two-step MUF resins were prepared by a physical mixing of urea-formaldehyde (UF) resin with melamine-formaldehyde (MF) resin that had been synthesized in a separate procedure. The properties of medium density fiberboard (MDF) panels bonded with two types of MUF resins were also investigated. MWs of these MUF resins were measured using gel permeation chromatography (GPC). In addition, this study measured the MWs of one-step MUF resin during its synthesis procedure. The performance of two types of MUF resins was evaluated by determining properties of MDF panels prepared in laboratory. As the synthesis procedure progressed, both number average MW ($M_n$) and weight average MW ($M_w$) of one-step MUF resin gradually increased, while the polydispersity index (PDI) decreased. And low Mw species of the resin predominantly decreased as the synthesis step progressed. The one-step MUF resin showed greater $M_n$ and $M_w$ than those of the two-step ones even though the PDI values of both resins were very similar each other. As expected, the one-step MUF resin resulted in better properties of MDF panels than those of two-step resins. In particular, the one-step MUF resin provided better internal bond (IB) strength and thickness swelling (TS) with MDF panels than those of two-step ones, indicating better water resistance of the one-step resin. These results suggest that the preparation method of MUF resins have a great impact on the MW and final panel properties.