Research
Program Summary
The Forest Products Laboratory focuses
attention and resources in six strategic emphasis areas:
Conservation
of Resources
- Overcoming technical barriers to recycling
postconsumer paper and paperboard into paper, paperboard, and
composites
- Increasing the amount of recovered wood
waste used in new structural construction materials
- Developing advanced high-yield, nonpolluting
processing technologies to convert wood into lumber, composites,
paper, and paperboard
- Assessing the effects of increased recycling
and advanced conversion technologies on wood supply and demand
- Assessing the economic impact of new recycling
and conversion technologies
- Increasing the service life of wood and
wood-based materials under adverse end-use conditions
- Lowering costs for constructing and maintaining
wood-based housing by increasing the ease of construction, decreasing
the need for maintenance, and increasing the performance and
durability of wood-based materials
Environmental
Research
- Developing nonchlorine bleaching methods
for pulp
- Developing nonsulfur chemical pulping methods
to produce high-strength pulp fiber
- Converting wood to paper and paperboard
using environmentally benign biobased processing technologies
- Using lignocellulosic wood fiber filters
to clean contaminated water for watershed restoration, land reclamation,
and storm water runoff from point and nonpoint sources
- Drying and preserving
wood using environmentally friendly methods
- Developing environmentally friendly disposal
methods for postconsumer wood treated with creosote, pentachlorophenol,
and chromated copper arsenate (CCA)
- Protecting wood and wood-based materials
from decay and insect attack
Sustaining
Ecosystems
- Providing utilization options for low-value
or underutilized material removed to accomplish forest restoration,
reduce fuel loading to prevent catastrophic forest fire, and
offset land management costs
- Working with forest managers to develop
options for meeting wood use and forest condition objectives
- Identifying the roles of fungi and bacteria
in forest ecosystems and nutrient recycling of woody material
on forest floors
Social and
Economic Vitality
Providing value-added opportunities
for local development in rural communities
- Using life-cycle assessment to examine
the costs and benefits of wood products and new technologies,
from extraction to disposal
- Assisting wood users in the transition
to new kinds of wood raw materials
Foundation Research
- Advancing fundamental wood science that
allows new and emerging utilization issues and problems to be
addressed efficiently and effectively
- Understanding cell wall make up and development
in wood
- Investigating the effects of moisture,
temperature, and insects on wood and wood-basedmaterial properties
- Understanding how fungi and bacteria attack
and metabolize wood and wood-based materials
- Improving the science of wood processing
and drying
- Developing performance-based codes and
standards for new wood-based materials
- Developing performance-based design criteria
for wood structures
- Improving the performance of fasteners
and adhesive for joining wood and wood-based material
Public
Service -- Using multiple
means to communicate research results to the public:
- Research publications
- Technology transfer
- Technical assistance
- Cooperative research efforts
- In-house consultation and identification
services
- Educational outreach
- Dissemination of information to groups
and individuals
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