Suchergebnisse

Funding Information: The author gratefully acknowledges the European Commission for funding the InnoRenew project [Grant Agreement # 739574 ] under the Horizon 2020 Widespread-Teaming program, the Republic of Slovenia (investment funding from the Republic of Slovenia and the European Union European Regional Development Fund) and infrastructural ARRS program IO-0035. Part of this work was conducted during the project Multi-spec (BI-IT/18-20-007) funded by ARRS . Additionally, O.G. is grateful for the financial support received from the University of the Basque Country (post-doctoral grant of Ms. Gordobil DOCREC18/29) and R.H. acknowledges to the Department of Education of the Basque Government (post-doctoral grant). Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors. ; Kraft lignin, an industrially available by-product from the pulp and paper industry, has revealed enormous potential to be valorised into a wide range of chemicals and biomaterials in the last two decades. However, the understanding of lignin chemistry remains challenging due to its chemical complexity. The goal of this work was to investigate the effect of drying temperature on the chemical, physical, and hygroscopic properties of hardwood kraft lignin isolated from industrial black liquor and elucidate the molecular interactions occurring between water and kraft lignin. Sorption-desorption isotherms determined by dynamic vapour sorption (DVS) technique revealed that the drying process considerably affected the hygroscopicity of the lignin polymer. Moreover, analytical pyrolysis (Py-GC-MS), dynamic NIR spectra collected as a function of relative humidity (0-95%) during sorption-desorption cycles and principal component analysis (PCA), evidenced chemical differences between lignin dried at room (25 °C) temperature and mild oven (55 °C) conditions. The main spectral changes associated with the water sorption in kraft lignin samples were analyzed using difference spectrum technique. 2D NIR spectral correlation analysis provided water sorption mechanism of lignin polymer, disclosing for the first time the sequential order in which water vapour molecules interact with active sorption sites in kraft lignin. ; Peer reviewed

Funding Information: The authors gratefully acknowledge the European Commission for funding the InnoRenew project (Grant Agreement #739574 under the Horizon 2020 Widespread-2-Teaming program), the Republic of Slovenia (investment funding from the Republic of Slovenia and the European Regional Development Fund) and infrastructural ARRS program IO-0035. Part of this work was conducted during project BIO4ever (RBSI14Y7Y4), funded within call SIR by MIUR-Italy; the project Multi-spec (BI-IT/18-20-007), funded by ARRS-Slovenia; Archi-BIO (BI/US-20-054) funded by ARRS-Slovenia, J7-9404 (C) funded by ARRS-Slovenia, and CLICK DESIGN, ?Delivering fingertip knowledge to enable service life performance specification of wood?, (No. 773324) supported under the umbrella of ERA-NET Cofund ForestValue by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport of the Republic of Slovenia. ForestValue has received funding from the European Union?s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. Funding Information: Funding: The authors gratefully acknowledge the European Commission for funding the InnoRenew project (Grant Agreement #739574 under the Horizon2020 Widespread-2-Teaming program), the Republic of Slovenia (investment funding from the Republic of Slovenia and the European Regional Development Fund) and infrastructural ARRS program IO-0035. Part of this work was conducted during project BIO4ever (RBSI14Y7Y4), funded within call SIR by MIUR-Italy; the project Multi-spec (BI-IT/18-20-007), funded by ARRS-Slovenia; Archi-BIO (BI/US-20-054) funded by ARRS-Slovenia, J7-9404 (C) funded by ARRS-Slovenia, and CLICK DESIGN, "Delivering fingertip knowledge to enable service life performance specification of wood", (No. 773324) supported under the umbrella of ERA-NET Cofund ForestValue by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport of the Republic of Slovenia. ForestValue has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. ; The service life performance of timber products exposed to natural weathering is a critical factor limiting the broad use of wood as an external building element. The goal of this study was to investigate the in-service characterization of an innovative biofinish coating system. It is a novel surface finishing solution based on the bioinspired concept of living fungal cells designed for effective wood protection. The performance of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) wood coated with biofinish was compared with uncoated references. Samples were exposed to natural weathering for 12 months under the climatic conditions of northern Italy. The visual appearance, colour, gloss, wettability, and 3D surface topography of the wood surface were examined. Results revealed that the total colour changes (∆E) of biofinish-coated wood were negligible. Untreated Scots pine wood revealed the changes in colour after just three months of exposure. The gloss changes of both surface types were small. The contact angle measured on biofinish-coated wood was higher compared to that of uncoated Scots pine. Surface roughness increased in uncoated wood due to the erosion effect caused by the weathering progress. Conversely, the surface roughness of biofinish-coated samples decreased along the exposure time. This phenomenon was explained by two self-healing mechanisms: migration of non-polymerized oil to the cracked surface, where it polymerizes and creates a closed layer, and local regrowth to cover damaged spots by living fungal cells present in the coating. The obtained results revealed the superior aesthetic performance of the biofinish surface treatment against natural weathering. By considering the fully bio-based nature of the investigated coating, it was concluded that this solution can be an attractive alternative for state-of-the-art wood protection technologies. ; Peer reviewed

Funding Information: The authors gratefully acknowledge the European Commission for funding the InnoRenew project (grant agreement #739574 under the Horizon 2020 Widespread-2-Teaming program), the Republic of Slovenia (investment funding from the Republic of Slovenia and the European Regional Development Fund) and infrastructural ARRS program IO-0035. Part of this work was conducted during project BIO4ever (RBSI14Y7Y4), funded within call SIR by MIUR-Italy; the project Multi-spec (BI-IT/18-20-007), funded by ARRS-Slovenia; Archi-BIO (BI/US-20-054) funded by ARRS-Slovenia, BI-AT/20-21-014 funded by ARRS-Slovenia, J7-9404 (C) funded by ARRS-Slovenia, and CLICK DESIGN, ?Delivering fingertip knowledge to enable service life performance specification of wood?, (No. 773324) supported under the umbrella of ERA-NET Cofund ForestValue by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport of the Republic of Slovenia. ForestValue has received funding from the European Union?s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. The experimental samples were provided by Accsyss The Netherlands and coated by Teknos/Drywood The Netherlands, ICA Italy, and Renner Italy. Authors would also like to thank Ferry Bongers for valuable comments and discussion. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. ; Wood, as a biological material, is sensitive to environmental conditions and microorgan-isms; therefore, wood products require protective measures to extend their service life in outdoor applications. Several modification processes are available for the improvement of wood proper-ties, including commercially available solutions. Among the chemical treatments, acetylation by acetic anhydride is one of the most effective methods to induce chemical changes in the constitutive polymers at the cellular wall level. Acetylation reduces wood shrinkage-swelling, increases its durability against biotic agents, improves UV resistance and reduces surface erosion. However, even if the expected service life for external cladding of acetylated wood is estimated to be 60 years, the aesthetics change rapidly during the first years of exposure. Hybrid, or fusion, modification includes processes where the positive effect of a single treatment can be multiplied by merging with additional follow-up modifications. This report presents results of the performance tests of wood samples that, besides the modification by means of acetylation, were additionally protected with seven commercially available coatings. Natural weathering was conducted in Northern Italy for 15 months. Samples were characterized with numerous instruments by measuring samples collected from the stand every three months. Superior performance was observed on samples that merged both treatments. It is due to the combined effect of the wood acetylation and surface coating. Limited shrinkage/swelling of the bulk substrate due to chemical treatment substantially reduced stresses of the coating film. Hybrid process, compared to sole acetylation of wood, assured superior visual performance of the wood surface by preserving its original appearance. ; Peer reviewed

A conference abstract from NIRItalia online 2021 in English and Italian. ; The authors gratefully acknowledge the European Commission for funding the InnoRenew project (grant agreement #739574) under the Horizon2020 Widespread-Teaming program and the Republic of Slovenia (investment funding of the Republic of Slovenia and the European Union European Regional Development Fund). Authors acknowledge the Slovene Ethnographic Museum for providing painted beehive panels for spectroscopic analysis.