REPLACING PULPWOOD AND SOLID WOOD RESIDUES WITH WASTE PAPER FOR VENEER AND FIBERBOARD PANELS

THE OBJECTIVE IS TO INCREASE THE UTILIZATION OF FOREST RESOURCES BY INCREASING THE NUMBER OF PRODUCT CYCLES IN WHICH WOOD FIBER CAN BE USED. PHASE I WILL DETERMINE THE TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY OF MAKING THREE-DIMENSIONAL PANELS AND VENEER SUBSTITUTES, USING THE LOWEST GRADES OF WASTE PAPER AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR WOOD AND ITS RESIDUES. PHASE II WILL UTILIZE THE DATA BASE TO DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF MANUFACTURING THE NEW FIBERBOARD IN LARGER SIZES. ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS RELATED TO THE HARVESTING OF FEDERALLY-ADMINISTERED FOREST LANDS HAVE RESULTED IN A SHORTAGE OF AFFORDABLE LOGS. SAWMILLS, PLYWOOD AND VENEER PLANTS HAVE CLOSED CREATING A SHORTAGE OF AFFORDABLE RESIDUES. CONSEQUENTLY, BOARD PLANTS, DEPENDENT ON LESS EXPENSIVE PLANER SHAVINGS, SAWDUST AND PLYWOOD TRIM, HAVE TO USE MORE EXPENSIVE PULP CHIPS. A SERIES OF EXPERIMENTS WILL BE CONDUCTED TO DETERMINE OPTIMUM LEVELS OF WASTE PAPER GRADES, BOARD DENSITY, RESIN, WAX, AND THE PERCENTAGE OF OTHER FIBER ADDITIVES NECESSARY TO MAKE NEW TYPES OF FIBERBOARD UTILIZING THE FOREST PRODUCTS LABORATORY'S SPACEBOARD TECHNOLOGY AND THE P.I.'S NEW FIBER OVERLAY TECHNOLOGY.