1 of 42

MODULE TWO

Manufacturing Forest Products

2 of 42

Topics Covered

Pulp & Paper Mills

​

Sawmills

​

Engineered Wood Products

​

Wood Energy

​

Secondary Wood Products

3 of 42

Forest Prodcuts Industry

Companies included in growing, harvesting and processing wood and wood fiber into products.

​

Examples

Pulp & Paper Mills, Sawmills, Engineered Wood Product Facilities & Biofuel Manufacturers

​

Forest Industry Impact

More than 5% of US manufacturing industry comes from forestry, that's more than one million people!

Manufacturing

4 of 42

Trees are Valuable in So Many Different Ways!

  • A trees highest use is while it is living conducting photosynthesis, cellular respiration and drawing up storm water runoff up through it’s vascular cambium…
  • Providing food and shelter to birds and small mammals and providing flowers with pollen and nectar to native pollinators…
  • Filtering air and water for communities….
  • Sheltering us all from the summer sun and heat and strong winds…
  • Long lived uses of their wood are great ways to honor the legacy of our trees and reduce our impact.

Mark Cornelison | UK Photo

https://uknow.uky.edu/campus-news/how-uk-cares-over-13500-trees

5 of 42

Understanding the Importance of Where Wood Comes From

  • Forests are dynamic ecosystems and succession is driven by disturbance.
  • Managing forests and woodlands for succession, diversity, and forest health.
  • Understanding threats to forest trees and ecosystem function.

6 of 42

FOREST MANAGEMENT AND WOOD

  • Wood is our oldest and most sustainable building material when paired with sustainable forest management.

​

  • New technology and innovation in mass timber building components are improving the health and sustainability of spaces where we live, work, learn and recreate.

​

7 of 42

FOREST PRODUCTS IMPROVE OUR HEALTH AND REDUCE IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT

8 of 42

Forest Products are Important to Kentucky

2,272 KML’s

674 Wood Industries

Renewable forest products contribute $18.6 Billion to Kentucky Economy!

9 of 42

We make many products out of plastics, petroleum and non-renewable materials.

​

This trend is largely due to non-renewable materials being cheaper for the consumer.

10 of 42

MICROPLASTICS & PFAS

  • Microplastics- defined as plastic particles smaller than 5 millimeters.

-Some fragments as small as 1 nanometer.

​

  • PFAS- polyfluoralkyl substances (forever chemicals) are synthetic chemicals used in products like non-stick cookware, waterproof chemicals. Includes some plastics which can breakdown to microplastics.
  • Both are environmental pollutants with deepening concerns the more that we learn.

11 of 42

Source: USFS Forest Inventory Analysis (FIA)

Kentucky forest growth, removals and mortality

12 of 42

HUMANITY’S NEED TO UNDERSTAND WOOD AND FORESTS MORE THAN EVER

  • Use of natural products to reduce impact.
  • Putting forest health first pays long term dividends.
  • Carbon storage
  • Long-lived wood products

​

13 of 42

Pulp & Paper Mills

14 of 42

    • Papermaking invented in China in 105 AD by Ts'ai Lun
    • Chinese papermaking kept secret for over 600 years
    • Papermaking in Europe made from cloth in the 12th Century

Pulp & Paper

15 of 42

North America's first paper mill opened in 1690 using rags/cloth

​

American and European papermaking from wood started in the 1850’s

        • Mechanical Process
        • Chemical Process

Pulp & Paper

16 of 42

    • Uses wood as raw fiber to produce pulp, paper, paperboard and other cellulose-based products
    • One of the worlds largest industry sectors
    • Pulp and paper industry segments
    • Packaging: linerboard, medium, paperboard
    • Printing: writing, copy, magazine paper
    • Tissue: toilet tissue, napkins, paper towels
    • Newsprint: includes writing, copy and magazine paper
    • Pulp Fluff: used in a products like diapers
    • Extractives: natural chemical compounds like lignin removed from pulp
    • Nanocellulose: nanoparticle cellulose microfibril crystals used in biobased food packaging

Pulp & Paper

17 of 42

    • Water used in the process is recycled
    • Typically located on a river or near water source
    • Softwood Trees - long fibers; add strength
    • Hardwood Trees - short fibers; add smoothness
    • Virgin Fiber - wood pulp from trees
    • Recycled Fiber - reused; fibers can be recycled multiple times but weaken in the process

Pulp & Paper

18 of 42

NANOCELLULOSE

  • Extracted from cellulose.
  • Derived from trees and wood pulp.
  • The most common forms of nanocellulose are cellulose nanofibrils (CNF), cellulose nanocrystals (CNC)
  • Applications in food packaging, device screens, adhesives, biomedical, supercapacitors, and more

​

  • University of Maine can produce up to 1 ton a day.

​

https://umaine.edu/pdc/wp-content/uploads/sites/398/2016/11/fotorcollage14-1268x592.jpg

19 of 42

Sawmills

20 of 42

    • Trees processed into lumber by:
        • Sawing to desired shapes/sizes
        • Dried in heated kilns for dimensional stability
        • Planed to desired dimensions and surface finish
    • Mechanized and computerized for optimal yield, efficiency and safety

Sawmills

21 of 42

    • 1/2 of tree = chips, sawdust or bark
    • Byproducts are valuable
        • Clean chips sold to pulp mill
        • Sawdust and bark used to heat the kiln or produce products at another mill. Bark can also be used in gardening mulch.

Sawmills

22 of 42

Lumber from hardwood trees is used to create: flooring, cabinets & furniture

23 of 42

    • Softwood lumber is primarily used in the construction of homes and commercial structures or is pressure treated to retard decay and used in outdoor construction.

​

    • Hardwood lumber is often used for flooring, molding, cabinets, furniture, and other appearance based finished goods. 

Sawmill Products

24 of 42

Building construction was 37% of global CO2 emissions in 2021

24

UNEP (2019 and 2022). Global status report for buildings and construction. International Energy Agency.

25 of 42

Mass timber has the capacity to capture and store carbon

25

Brock Commons Tallwood House

Churkina, G., Organschi, A., Reyer, C.P.O. et al. Buildings as a global carbon sink. Nat Sustain 3, 269–276 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-019-0462-4

26 of 42

Engineered Wood Products

27 of 42

    • Pieces of wood pressed, glued together and heated to create a new product
    • May be created as dimensional lumber and used in structural design
    • May be stronger than solid wood lumber Examples:
    • Oriented strand lumber, medium density fiberboard, particle board
    • Parallel strand lumber, glued laminated timber, laminated veneer lumber, cross-laminated timber
    • Finger-jointed lumber, I-joists, I-beams

Engineered Wood Products

28 of 42

Oriented Strand Board

Parallel Strand Lumber

Cross Laminated Timber

Finger-Jointed Lumber

I-Beams & I-Joists

29 of 42

WHAT IS MASS TIMBER?

  • Mass timber is a category of wood product that can revolutionize how America builds. 
  • It is comprised of multiple solid wood panels nailed or glued together, which provide exceptional strength and stability.
  • Hardwood CLT is one form of mass timber using dimensional lumber in orthogonal layers.
  • https://www.thinkwood.com/mass-timber

30 of 42

BENEFITS OF MASS TIMBER

  • Allows for increased forest management.
  • A new market for landowners to sell their trees to achieve their management objectives.
  • Carbon storage through long lived wood products.
  • Biophilic properties of wood.
  • Woods’ insulative properties.

​

​

​

https://www.woodworks.org/wp-content/uploads/Ahmanson-12.jpg

31 of 42

CONSTRUCTION PREFABRICATION OFFSITE

  • While at the mill, CLT panels are cut to size, including door and window openings, with state-of-the art CNC (Computer Numerical Controlled) routers, capable of making complex cuts with high precision.
  • Structure is built using a crane to lift the panels in place.

https://www.structurlam.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/CrossLam-CLT-Lifting-and-Handling-Guideline-SLP-August-2015.pdf

32 of 42

MASS TIMBER HAS THE CAPACITY TO CAPTURE AND STORE CARBON WHILE ASSISTING WITH ACTIVE FOREST MANAGEMENT

Building Community through Innovation and Sustainability of Kentucky's Forest: �Compression Properties of Underutilized Hardwood CLT Panels

Brock Commons Tallwood House

33 of 42

THERMALLY-MODIFIED WOOD

  • Natural hardwood lumber product.
  • Lumber treated to 180 degrees Celcius (356 degrees Fahrenheit).

https://northlandforest.com/cambia-thermally-modified-lumber.html

34 of 42

Wood Energy

35 of 42

    • 40% of the world's wood use comes from heating and cooking
    • Increasing fossil fuel consumption and decreasing supplies have increased wood use
    • Biofuel: fuel derived from biological sources
    • Wood Pellets
    • Common stove fuel
    • Made from ground wood fiber

Wood Energy

36 of 42

37 of 42

Sustainable management practices paired with the zero-waste model ensures that every part of the tree is used to create useful products and energy

Zero Waste Model

38 of 42

CHARCOAL

  • Humans first manufactured product.
  • Today this product is made from residues from lumber production.
  • Can be beneficial for forest management. (Use low-grade material and residues)
  • Biochar – Terra Preta (Amazonian dark earth) soil amendment.

​

​

https://th.bing.com/th?id=OIP.xBLcZl1nDbVqwT5SxRcoEQHaFO&w=141&h=100&o=6&dpr=1.3&pid=SANGAM

39 of 42

HISTORY OF BARREL USE

  • Barrels used to store all kinds of materials.
  • Great for transportation and storage of goods.
  • Barrels made to hold liquids referred to as “tight-cooperage”.
  • Thousands of years of use.
  • Still very relevant today!

40 of 42

EVOLUTION FROM PIT SAWS TO THE CIRCLE MILL TO THIN KERF BANDSAWS

  • Kerf is the term used to describe the thickness of the cut when sawing individual boards.
  • Sawmill owners and operators can recover additional boards and less sawdust made than circle saws.

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0421/7303/8745/products/Untitleddesign_9_1024x1024.jpg?v=1646879375

https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.8db3774fec7807802d7e8600b38ceb7e?rik=qtSMfMOJkxHBSQ&riu=http%3a%2f%2fwww.lumbermenonline.com%2fhandlers%2fshowitemimage.ashx%3fid%3d75537%26file%3dRAW_IMG_1764.jpg&ehk=7Hoq7s1KoK27S5Hd6TkqLB8frH9vfnqSoU93KFAdhUs%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw&r=0

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-j9_4X4vWdY/maxresdefault.jpg

41 of 42

TECHNOLOGY CHANGING MANUFACTURING

  • Nano scale wood particles
  • Lignin derived graphene from wood for batteries
  • Scanning Technology
  • Optimization and Automation Equipment
  • Robotics

​

42 of 42