"NATURAL ENVIRONMENT, AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY" - BIOSTRATEG II
The CROPTECH “Intelligent systems for breeding and cultivation of wheat, maize and poplar for optimized biomass production, biofuels and modified wood” was formed to manage the intellectual property from 45 scientists and leading researchers at WULSSGGW in Warsaw, PTU in Warsaw, PULS and WTI for the benefit of BIOAGRA SA, PB Smolice, EPP, Versal and Parkiety Jabłoński.
The project is focused on development and implementation of new technologies and biotechnologies that significantly accelerate and improve the plant breeding procedures that allow to obtain new varieties (lines) of crops and trees better adapted to the ongoing climate changes, that will allow to develop new robotized precision plants phenomics system, new yield and productivity prediction algorithms, that will allow for optimisation and improvements of biofuels production technologies on industrial scale and technologies for wood processing in timber and furniture industry. The implementation of the results of this proposal into industry have a strong positive impact on several large and medium-size companies, thus on Polish economy growth, its world-wide competitiveness and development.
“Cultural heritage – research into innovative solutions and methods for historic wood conservation”
The aim of the new “Cultural heritage – research into innovative solutions and methods for historic wood conservation” project, supported by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education ( “Dziedzictwo kulturowe – poszukiwanie nowoczesnych środków i metod konserwacji drewna zabytkowego”, No. 2bH 15 0037 83), is to develop new materials and techniques for conservation of wooden artefacts. Many different types of wood are planned to be studied, including dry wood (e.g. sculptures, paintings on wooden panels as well as various wooden constructions: churches, cottages, sheds, etc.) and wet wood (archaeological wood), individually selected for research in accordance to the level of wood degradation. The main idea behind the innovative solutions is based on technology using organosilicon compounds, particularly polysiloxanes and silsesquioxanes, and nanocellulose. Taking into consideration unique opportunities offered by the mentioned substances, it is highly probable that a new method for strength restoration of destroyed wood will be developed, which will therefore enable wooden historic objects to keep their shape and spatial form. Successful realisation of the project’s assumptions will open new horizons in research on conservation and preservation of wooden cultural heritage.
Head of the project - prof. dr hab. Bartłomiej Mazela, Institute of Chemical Wood Technology.
“Superior bio-friendly systems for enhanced wood durability” - DURAWOOD
The project "Superior bio-friendly systems for enhanced wood durability” (No. Pol-Nor/203119/32, DURAWOOD) is supported by Norway Grants and the National Centre for Research and Development of Poland (NCRD) as a part of Polish-Norwegian Research Programme. The Project Coordinator - prof. dr hab. inż. Bartłomiej Mazela. The duration of the project: 01.09.2013 - 31.08.2016.
The main overall objective of the project “Superior bio-friendly systems for enhanced wood durability” is concentrating on the contribution of wood durability to sustainability through the development of systems for quality assurance and performance classification of eco-friendly treated wood as alternative to wood treated with traditional preservatives and coatings. Wood as a natural polymer and an organic and renewable raw material due to its specific properties is applied in many sectors of the society. Wood treatment with bio-preservatives containing biocide-free, but new, eco-friendly ingredients (organosilicones, alkaloids, imidazoles, oils, etc.) is a well mastered alternative method for wood protection. The interest of this multicomponent system is to allow wood coating as well as wood treatment in a single step process. There is a need to work on such a systems in order to adapt the performance of the treated wood to its end use. Moreover, due to its alternative process, the up-grading and use of local timbers in new end-uses become possible and remain also one of the main objectives of this project.
The activities carried out within the framework of the project
Methods for testing and characterizing durability performance against physical as well as biological factors will be optimized. A large and precise environmental analysis (including LCA) will be also carried out during this project, for all stages of the process: from the formulation to the end of the life time of treated timber. The main steps of the project are as follow:
a) process optimization by eco additives selection,
b) multi scale process optimization,
c) grafting lab analysis on wood fibers,
d) environmental and societal analysis from the process to the treated timbers.
In project natural substances as alkaloids, natural oils and propolis and synthetic compounds as selected organosilicone and imidazoles were chosen.
There were planned works at:
- Obtaining natural substances from plant materials, both from Poland and Norway, using extraction methods developed in the course of the project.
- Development of a method to obtain alkaloids.
- Examination of the possibilities of bindings preparations in a variety of configurations with wood and verify their degree of fixation in wood.
- It is planned to test entire wood-protection application systems in order to determine such fungicidal, physico-mechanical properties, flammability parameters and surface properties.
Research is conducted at the Department of Chemistry and the Institute of Chemical Wood Technology, the Poznan University of Life Sciences (PULS) and at the Faculty of Chemistry (Laboratory of the Chemistry of Heterocyclic Compounds), the Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznan (AMU), Norwegian Forest and Landscape Institute, Wood Technology Section.
More information: http://durawood.up.poznan.pl.
