As we move towards more and more eco-friendly society, the wood industries must also adjust to new rules and restrictions. Even though new and greener solutions have been introduced, the leaching of wood preservatives into the nature is still a problem, especially agents that consist copper. Several studies have been conducted on the raw material`s influence on impregnability and it has been found that large variations in sapwood penetration exist which affect a homogeneous distribution of preservatives. This gives reason to believe that the leaching of wood preservatives is also influenced by the raw material. To ensure better economic process conditions which also apply environmentally safe protective agents, it is important to understand material features that influence permeability, retention and leaching of the impregnation agents. This study tries to set the variation of leachability of copper in system, evaluating both the origin of a tree and the origin of a sample.
Samples of scotch pine sapwood (Pinus Sylvestris) (20x20x50mm) are treated with the wood protection agents Wolmanit CX-8 and Tanalith. The variation in leachability within trees, between trees and between different stands of Scots pine (from Norway and Denmark) is studied. Within this material, it is possible to trace the individual sample to its original position in the stem. Samples are climatised, impregnated with preservatives and leached according to standard EN_84. Water samples are then sent to ICP machine (Iductively Coupled Plasma Technique) to analyze copper content in the leachates.
Keywords: copper-containing wood preservatives, leaching, EN_84
Authors
Kängsepp K.
Faculty of Chemical and Materials Technology, Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia
Larnøy E.
Norwegian Forest and Landscape Institute, Section Wood Technology, Ås, Norway
Meier P.
Faculty of Chemical and Materials Technology, Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia
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