Wood Populus Research Articles

The Spatio-Temporal Distribution of Cell Wall-Associated Glycoproteins During Wood Formation in Populus.

Plant cell wall associated hydroxyproline-rich glycoproteins (HRGPs) are involved in several aspects of plant growth and development, including wood formation in trees. HRGPs such as arabinogalactan-proteins (AGPs), extensins (EXTs), and proline rich proteins (PRPs) are important for the development and architecture of plant cell walls. Analysis of publicly available gene expression data revealed that many HRGP encoding genes show tight spatio-temporal expression patterns in the developing wood of Populus that are indicative of specific functions during wood formation. Similar results were obtained for the expression of glycosyl transferases putatively involved in HRGP glycosylation. In situ immunolabelling of transverse wood sections using AGP and EXT antibodies revealed the cell type specificity of different epitopes. In mature wood AGP epitopes were located in xylem ray cell walls, whereas EXT epitopes were specifically observed between neighboring xylem vessels, and on the ray cell side of the vessel walls, likely in association with pits. Molecular mass and glycan analysis of AGPs and EXTs in phloem/cambium, developing xylem, and mature xylem revealed clear differences in glycan structures and size between the tissues. Separation of AGPs by agarose gel electrophoresis and staining with β-D-glucosyl Yariv confirmed the presence of different AGP populations in phloem/cambium and xylem. These results reveal the diverse changes in HRGP-related processes that occur during wood formation at the gene expression and HRGP glycan biosynthesis levels, and relate HRGPs and glycosylation processes to the developmental processes of wood formation.

Bending Behavior of Lightweight Wood-Based Sandwich Beams with Auxetic Cellular Core.

The work concerns a three-point bending test of beams made of plywood, high density fibre boards, cardboard, and wood-epoxy mass. The goal of the investigation was to determine the effect of thickness and type of wood-based facings on stiffness, strength, ability to absorb, and dissipate the energy of sandwich beams with an auxetic core. The cognitive goal of the work was to demonstrate the possibility of using recycled materials for facings and cores instead of popular wood composites. Experimental studies and numerical calculations were performed on correctly calibrated models. Experimental studies have shown that the beams with HDF facings ( = 1528 MPa, = 12.61 MPa) and plywood facings ( = 1248–1395 MPa, = 8.34–10.40 MPa) have the most favourable mechanical properties. Beams with plywood facings also have a good ability to absorb energy (1.380–1.746 J), but, in this respect, the beams manufactured of HDF (2.223 J) exhibited better capacity. The use of an auxetic core and facings of plywood and cardboard significantly reduces the amount of dissipated energy (0.0093 J, 0.0067 J). Therefore, this type of structures can be used for modeling beams carrying high deflections.

Popular wood and sugarcane bagasse biochars reduced uptake of chromium and lead by lettuce from mine-contaminated soil

As a result of metal mining activities in Pakistan, toxic heavy metals (HMs) such as chromium (Cr) and lead (Pb) often enter the soil ecosystem, accumulate in food crops and cause serious human health and environmental issues. Therefore, this study examined the efficacy of biochar for contaminated soil remediation. Poplar wood biochar (PWB) and sugarcane bagasse biochar (SCBB) were amended to mine-contaminated agricultural soil at 3% and 7% (wt/wt) application rates. Lactuca sativa (Lettuce) was cultivated in these soils in a greenhouse, and uptake of HMs (Cr and Pb) as well as biomass produced were measured. Subsequently, health risks were estimated from uptake data. When amended at 7%, both biochars significantly (P<0.01) reduced plant uptake of Cr and Pb in amended soil with significant (P<0.01) increase in biomass of lettuce as compared to the control. Risk assessment results showed that both biochars decreased the daily intake of metals (DIM) and associated health risk due to consumption of lettuce as compared to the control. The Pb human health risk index (HRI) for adults and children significantly (P<0.01) decreased with sugarcane bagasse biochar applied at 7% rate relative to other treatments (including the control). Relative to controls, the SCBB and PWB reduced Cr and Pb uptake in lettuce by 69%, 73.7%, respectively, and Pb by 57% and 47.4%, respectively. For both amendments, HRI values for Cr were within safe limits for adults and children. HRI values for Pb were not within safe limits except for the sugarcane bagasse biochar applied at 7%. Results of the study indicated that application of SCBB at 7% rate to mine impacted agricultural soil effectively increased plant biomass and reduced bioaccumulation, DIM and associated HRI of Cr and Pb as compared to other treatments and the control.

Stiffness prediction of Mass Timber Panel-Concrete (MTPC) composite connection with inclined screws and a gap

An increasingly popular wood composite floor system consists of a Mass Timber Panel (MTP) connected to a concrete slab or topping with mechanical connectors such as Self-Tapping Screw (STS) with a sound insulation layer in between the MTP and concrete. Allowable floor span for this type of MTP-concrete composite system is often governed by serviceability performance requirements, such as deflection and vibration, which are directly dependent on the stiffness of the interlayer connection. Often tests are performed to characterize connection stiffness required for structural design. In lieu of testing, analytical models can be developed to calculate connection stiffness based on component properties. To that end, two analytical models were developed for solid and layered timber, for directly predicting the stiffness of a connection with inclined screws and an insulation layer. Usually, stiffness of laterally loaded connection is controlled by the dowel bearing effect of the fastener in timber, but inclined screw connection has a more complex behaviour due to the combined bearing and withdrawal action of the screw. In the developed models, both the bearing and withdrawal actions of the screw are considered along with the bending stiffness of the screw by applying a theoretically derived correction factor for the embedment stiffness modulus based on the beam on elastic foundation and friction between the concrete and MTP. Both models were experimentally validated with a wide range of material properties. It was found that the models are capable of predicting the stiffness of the MTP-concrete connection to within 18% of the experimental value. It was also noted that the model for solid timber panel is simpler in form and can be adopted for layered timber panel such as CLT with a small difference in solutions. Friction was found to be notable when there was no insulation gap in between timber and concrete.

Identification and characterization of circular RNAs during wood formation of poplars in acclimation to low nitrogen availability.

Circular RNA (circRNA) identification and expression profiles, and construction of circRNAs-miRNAs-mRNAs networks indicates that circRNAs are involved in wood formation of poplars in acclimation to low nitrogen availability. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are covalently closed non-coding RNAs that play pivotal roles in various biological processes. However, circRNAs' roles in wood formation of poplars in acclimation to low nitrogen (N) availability are currently unknown. Here, we undertook a systematic identification and characterization of circRNAs in the wood of Populus × canescens exposed to either 50 (low N) or 500 (normal N) µM NH4NO3 using rRNA-depleted RNA-sequencing. A total of 2,509 unique circRNAs were identified, and 163 (ca. 6.5%) circRNAs were significantly differentially expressed (DE) under low N condition. We observed a positive correlation between the expression patterns of DE circRNAs and their hosting protein-coding genes. Moreover, circRNAs-miRNAs-mRNAs' networks were identified in the wood of poplars under low N availability. For instance, upregulated several circRNAs, such as circRNA1226, circRNA 1732, and circRNA392 induced increases in nuclear factor Y, subunit A1-A (NFYA1-A), NFYA1-B, and NFYA10 transcript levels via the mediation of miR169b members, which is in line with reduced xylem width and cell layers of the xylem in the wood of low N-supplied poplars. Upregulation of circRNA1006, circRNA1344, circRNA1941, circRNA901, and circRNA146 caused increased transcript level of MYB61 via the mediation of a miR5021 member, corresponding well to the higher lignin concentration in the wood of low N-treated poplars. Overall, these results indicated that DE circRNAs play an essential role in regulating gene expression via circRNAs-miRNAs-mRNAs' networks to modulate wood anatomical and chemical properties of poplars in acclimation to low N availability.

Tree health identification of Intsia spp. on ex-situ conservation

Abstract. Rachmadiyanto AN, Rinandio DS. 2019. Tree health identification of Intsia spp. on ex-situ conservation. Pros Sem Nas Masy Biodiv Indon 5: 383-389. Intsia is a genus of plant which is consisted of several species with high economic value. According to the IUCN Red List v2.3 1998, two species of this genus has been classified as vulnerable, namely Intsia bijuga (Colebr.) Kuntze and Intsia acuminata Merr. Intsia bijuga is one of the most popular wood species because of its strong texture characteristics that resist to weathering and termite attacks. Ex-situ conservation is one of many efforts to save the endangered plants outside their habitat. The challenges faced by plants planted outside their habitat is survival, especially the age and quality of wood. The aim of this study was to reveal the health conditions of trees grown in ex-situ conservation areas. The research was carried out at Bogor Botanical Gardens-LIPI. The health conditions of 16 Intsia spp. trees were observed using Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) method. The results showed that the health condition of Intsia spp. was 44% categorized as healthy, 37% mild damage, and 19% moderate damage. The most type of damage is caused by 25% open wounds and 18% lianas. The Tree Damage Value (NIK) is directly proportional to height, diameter, and age of the Intsia tree. The results of this FHM observation needs to be supported by further specific examination such as the texture of the main stem.

Bacterial communities in an optional lichen symbiosis are determined by substrate, not algal photobionts

Borderline lichens are simple mutualistic symbioses between fungi and algae, where the fungi form loose mycelia interweaving algal cells, instead of forming a lichen thallus. Schizoxylon albescens shows two nutritional modes: it can either live as a borderline lichen on Populus tremula bark or as a saprotroph on Populus wood. This enables us to investigate the microbiota diversity in simple fungal-algal associations and to study the impact of lichenization on the structure of bacterial communities. We sampled three areas in Sweden covering the distribution of Schizoxylon, and using high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene and fluorescence in situ hybridization we characterized the associated microbiota. Bacterial communities in lichenized and saprotrophic Schizoxylon were clearly distinct, but when comparing the microbiota with the respective substrates, only the fruiting bodies show clear differences in composition and abundance from the communities in the substrates. The colonization by either lichenized or saprotrophic mycelia of Schizoxylon did not significantly influence the microbiota in the substrate. This suggests that in a morphologically simple form of lichenization, as represented by the Schizoxylon-Coccomyxa system, algal-fungal interactions do not significantly influence bacterial communities, but a more complex structure of the lichen thallus is likely required for hosting specific microbiota.

Chitosan-Based Coatings to Prevent the Decay of Populus spp. Wood Caused by Trametes Versicolor

Chitosan and chitosan oligomers are receiving increasing attention due to their antimicrobial properties. In the present study, they were assayed as a preventive treatment against white-rot decay of Populus wood (very important in economic and environmental terms), caused by Trametes versicolor fungus. Their capacity to incorporate different chemical species into the polymer structure with a view to improving their anti-fungal activity was also assessed by mixing oligo-chitosan with propolis and silver nanoparticles. The minimum inhibitory concentration of medium-molecular weight chitosan (MMWC), chitosan oligomers (CO), propolis (P), nanosilver (nAg), and their binary and ternary composites against T. versicolor was determined in vitro. Although all products exhibited anti-fungal properties, composites showed an enhanced effect as compared to the individual products: 100% mycelial growth inhibition was attained for concentrations of 2.0 and 0.2 mg·mL−1 for the CO-P binary mixture, respectively; and 2 µg·mL−1 for nAg in the ternary mixture. Subsequently, MMWC, CO, CO-P and CO-P-nAg composites were tested on poplar wood blocks as surface protectors. Wood decay caused by the fungus was monitored by microscopy and vibrational spectroscopy, evidencing the limitations of the CO-based coatings in comparison with MMWC, which has a higher viscosity and better adhesion properties. The usage of MMWC holds promise for poplar wood protection, with potential industrial applications.

Structural Characterization of Heat Treated Poplar Wood

Wood has been very useful in many fields due to its excellent properties. However, it also has less attractive characteristics, like high hygroscopicity and low bioconversion efficiencies. Heat treatment has been proved to improve these properties making lignocellulosic materials a stronger alternative to non-renewable sources to produce energy and other products. This study focused on the structural changes of heat treated poplar (populus) wood specimens treated under different temperature conditions. Nitrogen adsorption, pore size distribution and specific surface area of heat treated wood were studied. Increasing the temperature of treatment leads to a change on the characteristics of the nitrogen adsorption isotherms. The volume of pores for samples treated at higher temperatures is much greater comparing with samples below 400 oC BET specific surface areas were generally low for samples at temperatures until 400 oC, after this a great increase occurred while increasing temperatures up to 500 oC (413,06 m2/g).

Fungal Resistance of Particleboard Made Using Glutardialdehyde Modified Corn Starch as the Binder with the Aid of Urea Formaldehyde Resin

Particleboard is a popular wood composite made using mixtures of wood particles and resin, binder or adhesives, pressed at high temperature to cured. Despite its popularity, formaldehyde-based adhesives used in the formulations lead to cancerous effect as the formaldehyde fumes released from the unreacted chemicals travel into human lungs. Therefore this study tries to reduce the utilization of formaldehyde-based resin by replacement of a significant portion of the binder with glutardialdehyde modified corn starch as the binder. However, this practice could lower the durability of the particleboards against biological attack. Therefore, this study evaluates the fungal resistance of the particleboard panels. Panels were manufactured using 83:15:2 ratio of wood, corn starch-modified with glutardialdehyde and formaldehyde resin, respectively, as an improvement. Four types of wood-degrading fungal were chosen including Trametes versicolor, Formitopsis palustris, Schizophyllum commune and Pycnoporus sangineus. Some of the particleboard showed a little increased in fungal resistance when 2% urea formaldehyde was added, compared to using glutardialdehyde modified corn starch and starch only as the binder. Nine out of twelve samples showed a decrement in fungal degradation by using glutardialdehyde modified starch as the binder. Meanwhile, 6 out of 12 samples showed higher fungal resistance after additional of 2% urea formaldehyde in the binder formulation. Based on the results, combination of modified corn starch and urea formaldehyde resin could have a potential to be used in particleboard making without reducing the initial resistance towards fungal attack.

Granulobasidium vellereum (Ellis &Cragin) Jülich, a promising biological control agent

Studies involving biological control of wood decay fungi and pests in forest areas are scarce. The basidiomycete Granulobasidium vellereum (Ellis & Cragin) Jülich has been isolated as wood endophyte from London Plane trees (Platanus acerifolia (Ait.) Willd). This basidiomycete produces a variety of sesquiterpenes with antifungal activity. In this study we evaluated the potential activity of G. vellereum against wood decay fungi and fungi associated with the ambrosia beetle Megaplatypus mutatus Chapuis, an important forest pest in Populus sp. A combination of in vitro assays was made, in cultures and on wood blocks. Granulobasidium vellereum’s Volatile Organic Compounds (FVOCs) were characterized and their potential role in biocontrol was assessed. Granulobasidium vellereum did not cause a significant loss of weight on P. acerifolia and Populus wood and inhibited the growth of the target fungi, mainly when inoculated first. Up to nineteen volatile compounds were determined in G. vellereum strains. The growth of all target fungi was inhibited by FVOCs and in some cases the morphology of the fungi was altered. These results indicate that G. vellereum can be used as a Biological Control Agent (BCA) of xylophagous fungi and fungi related to forest pests. Further investigations should focus on developing application strategies for M. mutatus management.

Populus wood biomass-derived graphene for high CO2 capture at atmospheric pressure and estimated cost of production

Abstract In the present study, populus wood biomass (PWB), as a precursor, was first carbonized under a nitrogen atmosphere and the obtained carbon was used to prepare graphene via chemical activation using KOH. The graphene samples were used to study as adsorbents for CO2 capture. The effect of different parameters, such as various KOH/C weight ratios (2:1–4:1 g/g), different heating temperatures (750–950 °C) and heating time (30–90 min), on the surface characteristics and CO2 uptake capacity of the as-synthesized graphene was investigated. Various characterization techniques including elemental, TGA, BET, TEM, FT-IR and Raman were used. Under the experimental conditions of KOH/C impregnation ratio of 3:1, heating temperature of 850 °C and heating time of 60 min, the graphene sample showed a BET surface area of 1317.1 m2/g, total pore volume of 0.604 m3/g, up to 94% microporocity, and an average micropore diameter size of 1.84 nm. The measured uptake capacity of 7.2 mmol/g at a pressure of 1 bar and 293 K by sample G-3-850-60 was among the highest reported values in the literature data for carbon base materials. The isosteric heat of CO2 adsorption onto the graphene samples were computed from the Clausius–Clapeyron equation, which was consistent with the physical nature of adsorption. Furthermore, these nano-adsorbents exhibited a high CO2 adsorption capacity, thus proving to be good candidates for cost-effective CO2 capture and storage for the downstream application on an industrial scale. In addition, the results of our laboratory investigations explore a process for scaling-up a complete flow diagram of graphene production from populous wood biomass and an economic evaluation of graphene production is estimated at a cost of about $25 per kg.

A new tool for modelling the decompression behaviour of CO2 with impurities using the Peng-Robinson equation of state

Carbon capture and storage is considered as promising technique by the scientific community to reduce CO2 emissions and is composed by three different stages: CO2 capture, transportation and storage. The capturing plant has to be installed where processes involving large CO2 emissions, as power generation from fossil fuel, concrete and iron plants are present. The captured CO2 in real applications will be likely a CO2 dominated mixture with a content of several impurities, depending on the capture process which presence affects the thermo-physical properties of the pure CO2, especially increasing the vapour pressure curve. Such behaviour plays an important role in the control of the ductile fracture, whenever the CO2 is transported using pipelines. In the unfortunate event of a pipeline failure, the study of the pipeline decompression can be useful to estimate whether the fracture will remain confined or will propagate. The residual pressure acting on the crack tip of the pipeline represents the energy source governing the fracture’s propagation. The pressure profile is given by the expansion wave, which propagates along the pipeline during the fracture. In the literature, it is common practice to model the expansion wave by assuming one-dimensional isentropic decompression. In this study, a new code developed by the authors for modelling the decompression behaviour in the fluid is presented. The code is based on the Peng-Robinson equation of state with the Peneloux correction correlation matching the density of pure components to experimental data. The sound velocity in the two-phase region has been modelled with the method proposed by Nichita et al., which increase the accuracy of prediction with respect to the most popular Wood’s method. The code was validated against experimental and numerical data relating to hydrocarbon gas mixtures and CO2-rich mixtures. In particular, the results obtained for the hydrocarbon gas mixture decompression have been compared with experimental data and the predictions calculated by the software GASDECOM, in order to assess the accuracy of the code, that was then utilized to calculate the expansion wave curves for CO2-rich mixtures. The results obtained have been compared with experimental data and with predictions generated by the GERG2008 equation of state, found in literature. The simulated expansion wave curves show a good agreement with the experimental data for the tested compositions, especially for the plateau characterising the two-phase transition of rich gas compositions. The plateau corresponds to the saturation pressure, which is a key parameter for the fracture propagation control in CO2 pipelines, since the material toughness required to prevent a propagating ductile fracture is determined by applying the condition that the fracture propagation curve does not cross this value.

Carbon storage in wood products

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the main greenhouse gas causing global warming. The combustion of fossil fuels produces around 21.3 billion tonnes of CO2 per year. It has been estimated that natural processes can only absorb about half of that amount, so there is a net increase of 10.65 billion tons of atmospheric CO2 per year. Air pollution monitoring readings across the globe rose at the highest rate on record in 2015 and 2016. If fossil resources are used as energy resources then that means increase of carbon in the atmosphere and increase of CO2 in the atmosphere; if biomass resources are used as energy sources the amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere will increase, however the total amount of carbon in atmosphere will remain the same. To find out the actual amounts of CO2 that can avoided by storing carbon in bioproducts it is important to do an analysis evaluating the amounts of CO2 avoided by storing carbon in the product versus CO2 emitted during the production processes. CO2 emitted during the production processes of the bioproduct should be reduced to minimum. To verify the proposed method of evaluating the amounts of stored carbon versus the emissions during production process three popular wood products were analysed – oriented strand board (OSB), medium density fibreboard (MDF) and particle board (PB).

Comparison of four glycosyl residue composition methods for effectiveness in detecting sugars from cell walls of dicot and grass tissues

BackgroundThe effective use of plant biomass for biofuel and bioproduct production requires a comprehensive glycosyl residue composition analysis to understand the different cell wall polysaccharides present in the different biomass sources. Here we compared four methods side-by-side for their ability to measure the neutral and acidic sugar composition of cell walls from herbaceous, grass, and woody model plants and bioenergy feedstocks.ResultsArabidopsis, Populus, rice, and switchgrass leaf cell walls, as well as cell walls from Populus wood, rice stems, and switchgrass tillers, were analyzed by (1) gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) of alditol acetates combined with a total uronic acid assay; (2) carbodiimide reduction of uronic acids followed by GC–MS of alditol acetates; (3) GC–MS of trimethylsilyl (TMS) derivatives; and (4) high-pressure, anion-exchange chromatography (HPAEC). All four methods gave comparable abundance ranking of the seven neutral sugars, and three of the methods were able to quantify unique acidic sugars. The TMS, HPAEC, and carbodiimide methods provided comparable quantitative results for the specific neutral and acidic sugar content of the biomass, with the TMS method providing slightly greater yield of specific acidic sugars and high total sugar yields. The alditol acetate method, while providing comparable information on the major neutral sugars, did not provide the requisite quantitative information on the specific acidic sugars in plant biomass. Thus, the alditol acetate method is the least informative of the four methods.ConclusionsThis work provides a side-by-side comparison of the efficacy of four different established glycosyl residue composition analysis methods in the analysis of the glycosyl residue composition of cell walls from both dicot (Arabidopsis and Populus) and grass (rice and switchgrass) species. Both primary wall-enriched leaf tissues and secondary wall-enriched wood/stem tissues were analyzed for mol% and mass yield of the non-cellulosic sugars. The TMS, HPAEC, and carbodiimide methods were shown to provide comparable quantitative data on the nine neutral and acidic sugars present in all plant cell walls.

Studies in the Antrodia serialis group (Polyporales, Basidiomycota)

ABSTRACTTaxonomy and phylogeny of the Antrodia serialis group are revised with morphological, ecological, and geographic data, partial translation elongation factor 1-α (tef1) gene sequences, and nuc rDNA ITS1-5.8S-ITS2-28S sequences. The group contains 13 species found in boreal and temperate zones of the Northern Hemisphere. The species are limited to certain geographic areas within Eurasia and North America. The traditional morphology-based concept of A. serialis covers at least four closely related species: A. serialis s. str. in Eurasia, A. angusta, sp. nov., in East Asia, A. serrata, sp. nov., in the American Northeast, and A. calcitrosa, sp. nov., in the American Northwest. They all are associated mostly with Picea spp. and show small, but stable morphological differences from each other. In addition, A. morganii, comb. nov., inhabiting wood of Populus spp., occurs in North America, and Antrodia alaskana, comb. nov., a large-pored species, macroscopically similar to A. variiformis, is distributed along the Pacific coast of North America. The pine-dwelling A. flavimontis, sp. nov., similar to A. primaeva from Eurasia, is so far known only from the eastern part of the Rocky Mountains (Utah and Wyoming).

Impregnability of Paulownia and Populus Wood with Copper Based Preservatives

Impregnability of Paulownia and Populus Wood with Copper Based Preservatives

Metadata Analysis of Phanerochaete chrysosporium Gene Expression Data Identified Common CAZymes Encoding Gene Expression Profiles Involved in Cellulose and Hemicellulose Degradation.

In literature, extensive studies have been conducted on popular wood degrading white rot fungus, Phanerochaete chrysosporium about its lignin degrading mechanisms compared to the cellulose and hemicellulose degrading abilities. This study delineates cellulose and hemicellulose degrading mechanisms through large scale metadata analysis of P. chrysosporium gene expression data (retrieved from NCBI GEO) to understand the common expression patterns of differentially expressed genes when cultured on different growth substrates. Genes encoding glycoside hydrolase classes commonly expressed during breakdown of cellulose such as GH-5,6,7,9,44,45,48 and hemicellulose are GH-2,8,10,11,26,30,43,47 were found to be highly expressed among varied growth conditions including simple customized and complex natural plant biomass growth mediums. Genes encoding carbohydrate esterase class enzymes CE (1,4,8,9,15,16) polysaccharide lyase class enzymes PL-8 and PL-14, and glycosyl transferases classes GT (1,2,4,8,15,20,35,39,48) were differentially expressed in natural plant biomass growth mediums. Based on these results, P. chrysosporium, on natural plant biomass substrates was found to express lignin and hemicellulose degrading enzymes more than cellulolytic enzymes except GH-61 (LPMO) class enzymes, in early stages. It was observed that the fate of P. chrysosporium transcriptome is significantly affected by the wood substrate provided. We believe, the gene expression findings in this study plays crucial role in developing genetically efficient microbe with effective cellulose and hemicellulose degradation abilities.

Nanocatalytic Conversion of Waste Palm Oil Grade III and Poplar Plant’s Wood Sawdust into Fuel

The aim of this research was to study the pyrolysis oil production from Palm Oil Grade III (POG-III) and popular wood sawdust crude oil. Today, worldwide studies have been undertaken on the biomass usage and co-conversion of biomass and coal to seek out alternative fuels for supplying energy in an environmental friendly way. Substitute fuels have become more and more vital due to descending petroleum reserves, increasing economic circumstances and awareness of the increased environmental penalties of emissions from petroleumfuelled engines. In this study, biodiesel fuel was manufactured by the nanocatalytic to elucidate their thermal behaviour under pyrolysis conditions and to assess major decomposition products in terms of their yields. Transesterification of Palm Oil Grade III (POG-III) at 80°C temperature by using nano Co as nanocatalyst. The prepared biodiesel was characterized by FT-IR and GC-MS. Results revealed the presence of esters, alkanes, alkenes, saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons with carbon chain in the range C9-C27. Prepared biodiesel is cost effective and highly efficient. Besides Palm oil popular wood sawdust crude oil was also used. All products were obtained at low temperature and at low atmospheric pressure.

Formation of wood secondary cell wall may involve two type cellulose synthase complexes in Populus.

Cellulose biosynthesis is mediated by cellulose synthases (CesAs), which constitute into rosette-like cellulose synthase complexe (CSC) on the plasma membrane. Two types of CSCs in Arabidopsis are believed to be involved in cellulose synthesis in the primary cell wall and secondary cell walls, respectively. In this work, we found that the two type CSCs participated cellulose biosynthesis in differentiating xylem cells undergoing secondary cell wall thickening in Populus. During the cell wall thickening process, expression of one type CSC genes increased while expression of the other type CSC genes decreased. Suppression of different type CSC genes both affected the wall-thickening and disrupted the multilaminar structure of the secondary cell walls. When CesA7A was suppressed, crystalline cellulose content was reduced, which, however, showed an increase when CesA3D was suppressed. The CesA suppression also affected cellulose digestibility of the wood cell walls. The results suggest that two type CSCs are involved in coordinating the cellulose biosynthesis in formation of the multilaminar structure in Populus wood secondary cell walls.