2007 Research Highlights-- USDA Forest Service Forest Products Laboratory

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2006 Highlights

o	How Well Do Arsenic-Free Preservatives Inhibit Copper-Tolerant Fungi?
o	Caulking with Care
o	Combustion Properties of an Exotic Annual Grass
o	Creosote Movement from Treated Wood Immersed in Fresh Water
o	Durable Wood, Naturally--Termite Resistance
o	Essential Oils Inhibit Mold Spore Germination
o	Fire Resistance of Strucutral Composite Lumber Products
o	Bioprocessing for Ethanol Production and a Valuable Adhesive Coproduct
o	Fuel Treatment Evaluator
o	Fuel Treatment Market
o	Genome Sequencing
o	Wood Research from World War I to Iraq
o	Reusing Remediated Wood in Value-Added Products
o	Inspecting Historic Structures: Using the Web to Train Inspection Professionals
o	Productive Use of Thinnings in Dimension Lumber and Paper
o	Treatability of Underutilized Wood Species
o	Enhancing Wood-Plastic Composites by Crosslinking Polymers
o	Accessible and Affordable Playground and Path Surfacing Now Commerically Available
o	Dimensional Warping of Wood-Based Composites

2007 Research Highlights

Research Area:
Forest Service Strategic Goal 6: Conduct mission-related work in addition to that which supports the agency goals.
SPA: Resource Management and Use

Adsorption mechanisms of heavy metal cations on pelletized bark

Key Contact: Mandla Tshabalala, mtshabalala@fs.fed.us
Partner: UW-Madison, Department of Biological Systems Engineering

Bark flour from ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) was consolidated into pellets using citric acid as cross-linking agent. The pellets were evaluated for removal of toxic heavy metals from synthetic aqueous solutions. When soaked in water, pellets did not leach tannins, and they showed high adsorption capacity for Cu(II), Zn(II), Cd(II), and Ni(II) under both equilibrium and dynamic adsorption conditions.

This study demonstrated the potential for converting low-cost bark residues to value-added sorbents using starting materials and chemicals derived from renewable resources. These sorbents can be applied in the removal of toxic heavy metals and other pollutants from waste streams. Results of this study could be of benefit to waste water treatment managers including treatment of produced water from oil wells.

K.G. Karthikeyan
Dept of Biological Systems Engineering
University of Wisconsin
Tel: 608-262-9367
Fax: 608-262-1228
E mail: kkarthikeyan@wisc.edu

Thomas B. Boving
Department of Geosciences
University of Rhode Island
Tel: 401-874–7053
Fax: 401-874–2190
E mail: boving@uri.edu