Projects

Project JPICH Conservation, Protection and Use program - support for research on cultural heritage under the Joint Programming Initiative on Cultural Heritage (JPI CH)

 

StAr project - Development of Storage and assessment methods suited for organic Archaeological artefacts - within the framework of Joint Programming Initiative on Cultural Heritage and Global Change (JPI-CH, http://jpi-ch.eu/) Conservation, Protection And Use started on the August 2020. The Department of Forestry and Wood Technology of the Poznań University of Life Science participates in the project along with Archaeological Museum in Biskupin- link: https://www.biskupin.pl/, ARC-Nucléart of Grenoble (France) – link: http://www.arc-nucleart.fr/, Museum of Cultural History of the University of Oslo (Norway) – link: https://www.uio.no/english/ and The Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry – link: https://www.dcci.unipi.it/

 

One of the topics of this project deals with developing strategies that permit storage of organic archaeological finds for long durations (several months) in the waterlogged state, i.e. under pre-treatment conditions, without compromising the scientific evidence they contain. The experimentations will be carried out by samples analysis of the organic materials before and after their storage period. Experiments are foreseen in a true archaeological excavation context (Biskupin site in Poland). The second topic aims at setting up efficient and practical methods to assess the degradation over time of archaeological organic artefacts, i.e. to assess their post-treatment conditions.

In addition, StAr project intends to reinforce interdisciplinary approaches among archaeologists, conservators, and scientists in order to improve the sustainability of protection practices.

Project duration: August 2020 - August 2023.

Head of the Polish research team of the project: prof. dr hab. Magdalena Zborowska (magdalena.zborowska@up.poznan.pl, ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3028-5134)

The project received funding from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage under the JPICH Conservation, Protection and Use program - support for research on cultural heritage under the Joint Programming Initiative on Cultural Heritage (JPI CH).

 

  • 2016-2018 - No BIOSTRATEG2/2982241/10/NCBR/2016 “Intelligent systems of cultivation and farming of wheat, corn and poplar for optimized production of biomass, biofuel and modified wood” dr hab. Magdalena Zborowska is responsible for PULS task.  

    On 8 June 2016 the implementation of a new project entitled “Intelligent systems of cultivation and farming of wheat, corn and poplar for optimized production of biomass, biofuel and modified wood”  began.
    The aim of the project is:
    a. scientific description of new, highly competitive equipment and methods for precise plant phenomics, which will improve selection of enhanced lines of wheat, corn, rye and poplar,
    b. selection of new poplar lines with improved acclimatization features, annual yield and water use efficiency,
    c. improvement and enhancement of industrial production of solid fuel from wood waste and bioethanol from corn seeds,
    d. waste application for biogas production and side products e.g. acquiring furfural, which can be used for chemical wood modification after further processing.
    Consequently, CROPTECH will boost competitiveness of Polish industry and advanced technologies on European and worldwide markets, due to which it will help improve the quality of life of Polish society.
    The project is conducted by 9 partners, including 4 scientific centers and 5 enterprises: Warsaw University of Life Sciences - SGGW,  Warsaw University of Technology, Poznan University of life Sciences, Institute if Wood Technology, HR Smolice Sp. z o.o. Grupa IHAR, BIOAGRA Spółka Akcyjna, EcoPowerPlant Sp. z o.o., Versal Sp z o.o., Zakład Stolarski Sylwester Jabłoński.

  • 2016 - 2019 - No. 2bH 15 0037 83 “Cultural heritage – research into innovative solutions and methods for historic wood conservation” - project leader: Bartłomiej Mazela

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.

 

  • 2013 - 2016 - Pol-Nor/203119/32 “Superior bio-friendly systems for enhanced wood durability” - DURAWOOD - project leader: Bartłomiej Mazela

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 will be 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.

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