Economic profitability of particleboards production with a diversified raw material structure

Emilia Grzegorzewska,Piotr Boruszewski,Izabela Burawska-Kupniewska

doi:10.4067/s0718-221x2020005000412

Emilia Grzegorzewska, Piotr Boruszewski + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.4067/s0718-221x2020005000412

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Abstract

To achieve sustainable development, coherence of three key elements is necessary: economic growth, social inclusion and environmental protection. They are interconnected and all are extremely important for achieving the well-being of individuals and entire societies. One of the key drivers of sustainable economic growth is the furniture industry, which is related to the maximum optimization of production cost while main-taining the high quality of the offered products. However, the expected material deficit may contribute to a significant weakening of growth dynamics. One of the possible solutions to this problem is harvesting timber from plantations of fast-growing trees that could supplement the increasing deficit of wood raw material. The research aimed to determine the cost-effectiveness of particleboard technology modification involving the change in the structure of raw material by introducing wood from fast-growing tree plantations. The research included an estimation of the unit cost of 1 m3 particleboard manufactured in the series production process. The analysis was carried out on the example of one of the leading particleboard suppliers for the Polish furniture industry and consisted in comparing the cost of production of particleboards based on wood from fast-growing tree plantations with the cost of particleboards, which are commonly available on the market. Three variants of the diversified raw material structure were taken into account: 100 % share (1), 50 % share (2) and 25 % share (3) of raw material from fast-growing tree plantations. The time range of the studies was adopted for the years 2014-2020. The research indicates that the introduction of wood from fast-growing tree plantations into the production of particleboards enables the production of material and energy cost savings at the level of 6 % (3rd variant) to even 17 % (1st variant). Variant 1 of material structure can lead to cost reduction at the level of US$ 13,0 million (in case of particleboards production capacity 570000 m3)

Highlights

The goal of plantation culture is the economically and ecologically sustainable production of wood to meet a growing worldwide demand
If we accept the idea that trees can be domesticated to dramatically improve their yield and quality under the intensive agricultural systems typical of modern farming, and that domestication may require mutations in just a handful of critical genes, we are left with four important questions: 1. What will a domesticated tree look like?
The ultimate goal of domestication is to produce more wood fiber per unit area and time at less expense. This should be possible by allocation of more photosynthate to stems versus roots, branches, and reproductive tissues; less investment in costly biochemicals such as lignin above the levels needed for structural stability and herbivore protection in tree farms; and improved physiological efficiency due to changes in height and crown architecture that maximizes photosynthesis per unit area

Summary

Introduction

The goal of plantation culture is the economically and ecologically sustainable production of wood to meet a growing worldwide demand. The conversion of wild plants into domesticated crops involved radical changes (mutations) in the genes of crop ancestors. Until the 20th Century forest trees were grown mostly under natural or semi-natural conditions, so that "domestication genes" would be a disadvantage to them. It is only under the benign conditions of a farm that domesticating mutations have value. Crops have been grown in an agricultural setting for the past 100 centuries, allowing a long time period for domestication genes to be recognized and perpetuated through selective breeding. If we accept the idea that trees can be domesticated to dramatically improve their yield and quality under the intensive agricultural systems typical of modern farming, and that domestication may require mutations in just a handful of critical genes, we are left with four important questions: 1. What will a domesticated tree look like?

What consequences will domestication genes have for poplar agriculture?

Conclusion