A large amount of energy is used to heat and cool buildings in the construction industry. Moreover, wood frame buildings’ relatively low thermal mass limits energy efficiency and thermal comfort. Thermal energy storage via latent heat can effectively increase the thermal inertia of the building envelope, minimising the indoor temperature fluctuations and improving the occupant thermal comfort. This paper evaluated the energy efficiency and thermal comfort of an air-conditioned wood frame building by using biobased phase change materials (PCM) as the middle layer of a building envelope. Numerical simulations were conducted to investigate the effect of different factors (PCM melting point, surface area, thickness, and position) by adding a PCM layer into building walls to reduce annual heating and cooling energy consumption. The results of the numerical simulations showed that a phase change material layer can effectively decrease the energy demand of buildings, especially in cold areas. Based on the conditions investigated, the optimum solution can reduce the cooling, heating and annual energy consumption by 47%, 34% and 38%, respectively, compared to a reference building without a PCM layer. Moreover, an economic and environmental study of buildings containing biobased PCM is presented.

The end-of-life recycling of crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) modules and the utilisation of waste is of fundamental importance to future circular-economy societies. In the present work, the wet-chemistry synthesis route – a low-temperature dissolution–precipitation process – was explored to produce aluminosilicate minerals from waste c-Si solar cells. Nanostructured crystals were produced in an alkaline medium by increasing the reaction temperature from room temperature to 75 °C. The morphology of the produced crystals varied from nanolayered aggregates to rod-shaped crystals and was found to be dependent on the temperature of the reaction medium. Chemical and phase composition studies revealed that the synthesised compounds consisted of structurally different phases of aluminosilicate minerals. The purity and elemental composition of produced crystals were evaluated by energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and micro X-ray fluorescence (μXRF) analysis, confirming the presence of Al, O, and Si elements. These results give new insights into the processing of aluminosilicate minerals with sustainable attributes and provide a possible route to reducing waste and strengthening the circular economy.

The purpose of this research study was to investigate the properties of polyurethane coatings based on ligninnano-particles. For this purpose, the prepared coatings were applied to pine wood surfaces and weathered artificially.Subsequently, color and gloss of the coatings were measured before and after the weathering test. Fieldemission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) micrographs prepared from the coatings showed that the averagesize of nano-particles in the polyurethane substrate was approximately 500 nm. Nuclear magnetic resonance(13C-NMR) spectroscopy showed that strong urethane bonds were formed in the nano-lignin-based polyurethane.Differential calorimetric analysis (DSC) test revealed that the glass-transition temperature (Tg) of lignin nanoparticlesmodified with diethylenetriamine (DETA) was 112.8°C and Tg of lignin nano-particles modified withethylenediamine (EDA) was 102.5°C, which is lower than the Tg of un-modified lignin (114.6°C) and lignin modifiedwith DETA (126.8°C) and lignin modified with EDA (131.3°C). The coatings modified with lignin nano-particleshad a greater change in gloss. The lignin nano-particles in the modified coating are trapping hydroxylradicals which reduces photoactivity and yellowing of the polyurethane by about 3 times compared to unmodifiedpolyurethane coatings. After weathering test, the nano-lignin-based coating had a rougher surface with a lowercontact angle (0.78°) compared to the unmodified polyurethane coating (0.85°).

Wood densification itself does not, in general, improve the fire-retardant properties sufficiently to reach the standard requirements. The object of this study was to enhance the fire-retardant properties of thermo-mechanically densified wood without any loss of moisture stability and hardness. Scots pine sapwood was pretreated before densification by impregnation with a fire retardant (FR) consisting of ammonium dihydrogen phosphate and urea and then cured in-situ by hot pressing at 150 °C or 210 °C. Densified specimens without FR were used as a control. Set-recovery, fire retardancy in an open flame test, and Brinell hardness were determined. The set-recovery was slightly reduced as a result of the FR treatment, but the pressing temperature and time had a much greater influence. In the open flame test, specimens without FR-treated ignited within 15-50s of exposure to the flame, whereas all the FR-treated specimens exhibited ignition resistance over the 10 minutes duration of the test. Water-soaking cycles had no impact on the ignition resistance in these groups, indicating a strong resistance to water leaching of FR after pressing at 210 °C for 60 minutes. The hardness increased due to the presence of FR after pressing at 210 °C, but sharply decreased after water immersion.

Wood, a fundamental material in construction, confronts durability and weathering challenges, notably UV-induced degradation leading to colour changes. This study investigated a novel treatment using citric acid and urea to enhance the UV stability of wood. The reaction between these compounds generates water-soluble fluorescent species and insoluble particles upon thermal treatment which may provide wood with UV protection. Specimens were treated with two different treatment methods and then exposed to 2016 h of accelerated weathering, during which colour was measured regularly. Citric acid and urea were either pressure impregnated into the wood and thermally reacted in situ during heat treatment or pre-reacted in the absence of wood with subsequent implementation into melamine formaldehyde (MF) and water-based surface coatings. The results showed that water-soluble fluorophore compounds were formed with both treatment methods. Accelerated weathering tests revealed significant colour changes over time, where specimens coated with a mixture of MF and fluorescent particles from the reaction between citric acid and urea, exhibiting the least alteration. The lowest colour change ΔE of 5.9 was observed for specimens coated with a MF-based coating containing 1 wt% of citric acid and urea thermally pre-reacted at a temperature of 180 °C, showcasing potential wood protection applications.

Wood is an important construction material, but a significant problem hindering its widespread use is susceptibility to biodeterioration and biodegradation. To protect wood against degradation, a surface coating can be used, and it is important to be able to predict the ability of the coating to prevent fungal growth. The currently available standard method to determine the antifungal efficiency of a coating has two weaknesses, viz. no evaluation of the moisture content in the wood material, and no possibility to study antifungal effect of the coating towards an individual fungus. A new quantitative method of determining the antifungal efficiency of coatings is therefore proposed, where a coating is applied to wood and exposed to an individual fungus in a Petri dish. Six commercial water-based coatings containing synthetic biocides were studied on filter paper (EN 15457) and with the new test method on wood blocks. The results show the importance of studying the antifungal efficiency of a coating using individual fungi instead of a mixture of fungi, since individual fungi interact differently with a given biocide in the coating. The moisture content of the wood substrate during the test was affected by how the fungus was established on the coating. This new test approach shows promise in screening the antifungal efficiency of wood coatings containing preservative substances applied to wood material surfaces.

Thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) densification is a well-known wood modification procedure for improving the mechanical properties of low-density wood species, but its performance at elevated temperatures is not well understood. The objective of this study was to determine the bending behaviour of densified Scots pine at elevated temperatures. A total of 48 specimens (200 mm (longitudinonal) × 20 mm (radial) × 20 mm (tangential)) were tested to investigate the bending performance under constant temperatures at 25, 50, 125 and 175°C, respectively. It was found that the modulus of rupture (MOR) and modulus of elasticity (MOE) of both un-densified and densified pine decreased with increasing temperature. However, the densified wood exhibited more brittle shear failure but retained higher MOR and MOE than the untreated specimens treated at the same temperature level. In general, the results demonstrate that densification can be a potentially effective method to retain the mechanical properties of wood at elevated temperatures, thereby having a potential maintain the load-bearing capacity during and after fire.

Sawn-timber drying is the wood industry’s most time- and energy-consuming process. This process can be more efficient than the conventional method by elevating the dry-bulb temperature to above 100 °C in a high-temperature drying (HTD) process, which for some species shortens the drying process by up to 50% without deteriorating the quality. Comprehending the complex correlation between the wood drying physics at high temperatures and the anatomical features of the specific species, along with its mechanical and physical properties, is crucial, as it limited its application from being broadly implemented in industry and the necessity of generalizing this method for wood species. The present study has been conducted to comprehensively review and tackle the challenges of applying this method on various species and the consequences, such as high moisture content gradients resulting in stress residual, unevenness, and color changes. Energy, environment, and economic (3E) assessments of HTD were evaluated. The accelerated drying process in HTD reduces heat losses and air leaks, resulting in higher energy efficiency than the conventional methods. Furthermore, it was proved to be 20% economically in the long term. Confliction in reported studies, such as HTD's effect on permeability and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions, was raised, highlighting the importance of further studies for generalizing this method to adapt appropriate drying schedules, focusing on Scandinavian species by referring to previous industrial trials.

The rise in energy consumption and the increase in the use of bio-based materials in the building sector, has led to the need to investigate the possibilities to use wood as a porous support material for phase change materials (PCMs), and thereby creating a thermal regulative wood-based product. This study investigated the influence of Kraft lignin-glyoxal prepolymer on the thermal-energy storage properties of wood modified with paraffin-type of PCM. The implementation of the modified wood involves preparing PCM emulsions, synthesising lignin-glyoxal prepolymer, and modifying wood with the PCM-Kraft lignin-glyoxal emulsion through vacuum-pressure impregnation. The infrared imaging suggested the ability of PCM-modified wood to delay the temperature changes, even with the introduction of Kraft lignin-glyoxal prepolymer. In conclusion, it is feasible to introduce thermal-energy storage property into wood with the addition of Kraft lignin-glyoxal prepolymer. Further studies will focus on the long-term thermal storage performance properties when this PCM system is subjected to repeated heating/cooling cycles.