Life cycle analysis of a novel treatment method for recycling wood processing residues into the core material of wooden doors

Abstract

As an industrial waste material, the utilization rate of wood processing residues in China is only 30%, and the high-efficiency utilization of wood processing residues can greatly alleviate the shortage of wood resources in China. This study suggested a novel treatment method for conserving wood resources by recycling wood processing residues as core materials for wooden doors, the feasibility of which was validated through an actual production operation in a wooden door manufacturing factory. Since the recycling process requires a series of processes, two comparison scenarios were proposed in this study in order to assess whether the recycling method can reduce the environmental impact and thus generate environmental benefits. Scenario 1 conducted a comparative LCA analysis among wood processing residues and two commonly used core materials for wooden doors, namely, tubular particleboard and laminated veneer lumber (LVL). Scenario 2 conducted a comparative LCA analysis between two treatment methods for wood processing residues, namely, recycling as core material and incineration as boiler fuel for heat production. The results revealed that using wood processing residues as a core material for wooden doors reduced the emission of approximately 7.46 kg CO2 eq of GWP and 143.77 MJ of PED when compared to tubular particleboard, but when compared to LVL, recycling of wood processing residues produced no environmental benefits but exerted a negative impact. In addition, recycling wood processing residues to replace tubular particleboard as core material for wooden doors is a superior method of disposal compared to incineration as boiler fuel for heat production.