Premazi iz utekočinjenega lesa (Slovene)

Code

L4-2144 (B) - included in ARRS records

Head

PhD Marko Petrič

Period

1/1/2009 - 4/30/2012

Range in 2012

0.39 FTE

Science

Natural sciences and mathematics (3)
Biotechnical sciences (10)
Interdisciplinary research (1)
Other (1)

Reseacher status

Researcher (14)
Junior expert or technical associate (1)
Junior researcher (0)
Researcher/expert (0)
Private researcher (0)

Education

Doctor's degree (13)
Other (2)

Sex

Woman (2)
Man (13)

Status

Active (12)
Retired (3)

No. of publications

0 (1)
1–9 (1)
10–99 (1)
100–999 (10)
1,000–9,999 (2)

Projects / Programmes source: ARRS

source: ARRS

Premazi iz utekočinjenega lesa (Slovene)

Research activity

Code	Science	Field	Subfield
4.01.02	Biotechnical sciences	Forestry, wood and paper technology	Wood technology

Code	Science	Field
2.05	Engineering and Technology	Materials engineering

Evaluation (rules)

source: COBISS

Citations Citations for bibliographic records in COBIB.SI that are linked to records in citation databases

source: WoS

source: Scopus

source: COBISS

Researchers (15)

no.	Code	Name and surname	Research area	Role	Period	No. of publications
1.	28502	PhD Franc Budija	Forestry, wood and paper technology	Junior researcher	2009 - 2010	37
2.	03439	PhD Peter Bukovec	Chemistry	Researcher	2009 - 2012	543
3.	16256	PhD Romana Cerc Korošec	Chemistry	Researcher	2009	318
4.	29824	PhD Samo Fišinger	Physics	Researcher	2009	0
5.	20691	PhD Petra Grošelj	Interdisciplinary research	Researcher	2010	150
6.	19106	PhD Miha Humar	Forestry, wood and paper technology	Researcher	2009 - 2012	1,208
7.	29227	PhD Mirko Kariž	Forestry, wood and paper technology	Researcher	2009 - 2012	151
8.	30737	Matija Kranjc	Forestry, wood and paper technology	Junior researcher	2009 - 2011	3
9.	17846	Borut Kričej		Technician	2009 - 2012	434
10.	13400	PhD Leon Oblak	Forestry, wood and paper technology	Researcher	2009 - 2012	448
11.	20386	PhD Matjaž Pavlič	Forestry, wood and paper technology	Researcher	2009 - 2012	485
12.	00395	PhD Marko Petrič	Forestry, wood and paper technology	Principal Researcher	2009 - 2012	871
13.	05248	PhD Franc Pohleven	Forestry, wood and paper technology	Researcher	2009 - 2012	1,191
14.	16382	PhD Milan Šernek	Forestry, wood and paper technology	Researcher	2009 - 2012	551
15.	19719	PhD Črtomir Tavzes	Forestry, wood and paper technology	Researcher	2010 - 2012	184

Organisations (2)

no.	Code	Research organisation	City	Registration number	No. of publications
1.	0103	University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology	Ljubljana	1626990	21,902
2.	0481	University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty	Ljubljana	1626914	64,542

Significance for science

Realisation of the project programme partially elucidated liquefaction reactions of selected lignocellulosics, however they still remain quite unclear. In the volatile liquefaction products, the presence of levulinic acid, furfural and dioxane was identified. There has been even less knowledge on the crosslinking of liquefied wood with different reagents, and especially of self-crosslinking of liquefied lignocellulosic materials. OH group contribution from diethylene glycol (DEG) in the liquid mixture of liquefied wood and DEG was found to be even 40 %. We found out that the exposure of the excess solvent free reaction product (ESFLW) for 24 hours at 130 ° C resulted in its self-crosslinking. Thusly created biopolymer network is probably of a polyether and/or ester type. The discovered self-crosslinking ability of ESFLW is an important novelty, because this product can be prepared independently for biopolymer adhesives or coatings. According to literature data, liquefied wood has been up to now used only as one component in preparation of multicomponent systems (polyurethanes, polyepoxides, polyesters). It was also found out that the partially crosslinked liquefied poplar wood, prepared in glycerol, when the excessive solvent was not removed, probably consists of a network of polyether ketones with a certain share of aromatic compounds. An interesting finding was also the possibility of the use of the glycerol and a sulphuric acid reaction product for surface treatment. The composition of liquefied matter and the processes of crosslinking and self-crosslinking were investigated by some selected physical and chemical methods that have been utilised in the biorefineries field for the first time, and thus contributed also to the field of instrumental methodology.
Research of liquefaction possibilities of wood that had been treated with inorganic preservatives (CCB) (polluted/previously impregnated waste wood) represents an original contribution to wood science and technology, as well. From wood, impregnated with boron based protective formulations, less boron leached out than from wood, protected with commercial boron based preservatives. The problem of boron leaching is an important challenge in the field of wood protection and our results represent a contribution do mitigate this problem. Tests of leachability of Cu from spruce wood, impregnated with CCB containing spruce wood also brought some promising results. On the other hand, it seems that the liquefied wood, containing remaining of biocides, could not be applied as a wood preservative, due to its too low protective efficacy.
Possibilities of application of liquefied wood in wood adhesives have been investigated as well. Influence of pH of liquefied on shear strength of adhesive bonds was also elucidated. Shear strength of liquefied wood based adhesive bonds did not decrease during exposure to standard climatic conditions, what represent the progress – contribution to new findings in the field of liquefied wood based adhesives.
An important drawback of liquefied wood based coatings is their dark colour. Experiments within the frame of the L4-2144 project gave promising results also in this area – light coloured coatings from liquefied wood were prepared. According to our best knowledge, this finding is also a novelty in investigations of liquefied wood and its applications.
The investigations contributed to international scientific collaboration in the frame of bilateral projects (Proteus – with France, Slovenian – Finnish project) and in the frame of COST FP1006, strengthening the common research area in the field of biomass liquefaction and applications of liquefied lignocellulosics.

Significance for the country

Biomass liquefaction was performed by using diethylene glycol (DEG), ethylene glycol, polyethylene glycol and also glycerol. Glycerol is a by-product of biodiesel production. Increase of glycerol usage in liquefaction processes would result in production of high value added products from an industrial residue. Pollution with oil refinery derivatives would be deceased as well. Potential applications of up to now poorly exploited or even unexploited wooden residues and/or waste could contribute to sustainable development of Slovenia and to mitigation of global climate changes.
Production of new materials from biomass could be performed at primary wood processing plants and in other industries that produce large amounts of wood residues and/or wastes. The mentioned plants are located predominantly in rural regions, so application of the project’s results could contribute to balanced regional development of the country.
Our additional finding is that glycerol itself, without wood, could be used for preparation of crosslinked polymers, including wood coatings, after the reaction with a sulphuric acid. So, completely new possibilities of use of natural renewable resources are open. On the other hand, if DEG is used for solvolysis and it is evaporated from the mixture prior to selfcrosslinking, it could be recycled, which has positive economic impacts.
It was shown that unreacted excessive DEG contributes to at least 40 % of all available hydroxyl groups in the product, obtained by liquefaction of wood with DEG. Use of liquefied wood without unreacted DEG could therefore significantly lower the consumption of other components in preparation of two component systems or syntheses of crosslinked polymers.
The presence of levulinic acid in DEG distillate was confirmed. Levulinic acid can be used for syntheses of various chemicals and it is therefore an excellent raw material which is derived from a renewable resource - wood. The volatile products formed contained, among other compounds, furfural, dioxane and DEG. Furfural can be used for further syntheses of new compounds.
From the glycerol liquefied poplar wood as well from the product of the reaction between glycerol and sulphuric acid, without wood, we prepared various surface finishing systems and tested their resistance against artificial accelerated weathering. It came out, that the prepared coatings could be currently used in interior. The experiments showed possibility of wood adhesive production, as well. New coatings and adhesives on the basis of renewable resources could contribute to a wider production assortment and could increase the companies’ competitiveness.
Wood, previously treated/preserved and now contaminated with inorganic pollutants (CCB), represents a special environmental and economic challenge, since its storage in special landfills is expensive, and combustion in special incinerators with electric filtering of the pollutants makes almost no sense in terms of energy balance. One of the goals of the proposed project is liquefaction of such wood with subsequent inactivation of the pollutants by the incorporation into newly produced polymeric material, or their removal from the liquefied matter. Our preliminary results are promising, so they could contribute to an environment-friendly management of recovered preservative-contaminated wood.
One year investigation results have shown that apart from wood, liquefaction of other biomass types are possible, for example of the so called celulignin that is a residue formed during tannin production. This is the way to spread possibilities of application of almost worthless residues for high value added products.

Most important scientific results

Annual report 2009, 2010, 2011, final report, complete report on dLib.si

Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results

Annual report 2009, 2010, 2011, final report, complete report on dLib.si