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Dr.
Daniel Keathley
Professor
& Chair, Department of Forestry
Program
Director, Eastern Hardwood Utilization Research Program |
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& Research Publications
Program History |
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Hardwood Utilization Research
Program has the
following objectives for year 2002 to 2004: |
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1 |
Increase
the utilization of hardwood species for exterior applications
through the use of environmentally benign chemicals; reuse and recycle wood
products from demolition as raw materials for wood composites. |
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2 |
Develop processes to utilize sawdust from the
furniture industry as raw materials in the manufacture of
commercially viable and value-added products such as wood plastic composites
and their foams. |
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3 |
Investigate the
effects of major economic and social forces affecting timber supply and
demand in
sub-regions of the Lake States of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. |
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4 |
Develop biotechnological means for production of
value-added wood products. Identify and characterize the
wood-specific genes. Develop a DNA-based detection system for incipient
fungal decay in wood products. |
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5 |
Develop highly
polymorphic markers that will be useful for
characterizing intraspecific strains of species of wood rot fungi, brown rot
and rot basidiomycetes. |
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6 |
Investigate o-dihydroxyphenyl groups in the
black locust polyphenols (flavonoids) for performance as
redox catalysts in a manner similar to anthrahydroquinone. Optimize soda
pulping catalyzed by o-dihydroxyphenyl groups of black locust. |
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The scientists will adopt
the following approaches to achieve the above objectives: |
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1 |
Chemicals with low to negligible impact on the
environment will be screened as potential preservatives. Laboratory soil block
tests and field test exposure will be used to determine the biological efficacy
and wood fixation. |
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2 |
A continuous extrusion process will be used to
manufacture wood plastic composites. Cellular structures will be developed by
using both conventional and micro-cellular foaming technologies. Mechanical
properties and cell morphology of foamed samples will be characterized.
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3 |
Analyze the relationship between sawlog
price, labor demand, and capital investment in the Lake States hardwood
sawmill industry; and develop a spatial equilibrium model of Lake States
hardwood pulpwood markets |
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4 |
Use a metabolic
engineering approach to produce value-added hardwood products. Enhance decay
resistance of wood to demonstrate the feasibility of this approach. |
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5 |
Develop microsatellite markers, which are hypervariable (highly polymorphic), and which
as a set will allow identification of strains as well as population genetic
analyses of the population biology of wood rot fungi. |
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6 |
Extract polyphenols
from black locust by methanol. Perform soda pulp aspen (Populus tremuloides)
with and without the addition of black locust polyphenols as well as
commercially available flavonoids, quercetin and rutin. Compare soda pulping of
unextracted and extracted black locust. |
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Michigan State University is an
Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action Employer
Reproduction, distribution, or
copying needs prior permission from the Chairman, Department of Forestry at
the Michigan State University |