Wood industry

The wood industry or timber industry (sometimes lumber industry -- when referring mainly to sawed boards) is the

Processing and products differs especially with regard to the distinction between softwood and hardwood.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} While softwood primarily goes into the production of wood fuel and pulp and paper, hardwood is used mainly for furniture, floors, etc.. Both types can be of use for building and (residential) construction purposes (e.g. log houses, log cabins, timber framing).^{[citation needed]}

Production chain

Wood is transported by a variety of methods, typically by road vehicle and log driving over shorter distances. For longer journeys, wood is transported by sea on timber carriers, subject to the IMO TDC Code.^[7]

Top producers

As of 2019, the top timberland owners in the US were structured as real-estate investment trusts and include:^[8]

• Weyerhaeuser Co.
• Rayonier
• PotlatchDeltic

In 2008 the largest lumber and wood producers in the US were^[9]

• Boise Cascade
• North Pacific Group^[10]
• Sierra Pacific Industries

As these companies are often publicly traded, their ultimate owners are a diversified group of investors. There are also timber-oriented real-estate investment trusts.

According to sawmilldatabase, the world top producers of sawn wood in 2007 were:^[11]

Issues

Safety

Noise

Workers within the forestry and logging industry sub-sector fall within the agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting (AFFH) industry sector as characterized by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).^[14] The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has taken a closer look at the AFFH industry's noise exposures and prevalence of hearing loss. While the overall industry sector had a prevalence of hearing loss lower than the overall prevalence of noise-exposed industries (15% v. 19%), workers within forestry and logging exceeded 21%.^[15] Thirty-six percent of workers within forest nurseries and gathering of forest products, a sub-sector within forestry and logging, experienced hearing loss, the most of any AFFH sub-sector. Workers within forest nurseries and gathering of forest products are tasked with growing trees for reforestation and gathering products such as rhizomes and barks. Comparatively, non-noise-exposed workers have only a 7% prevalence of hearing loss.^[16]

Worker noise exposures in the forestry and logging industry have been found to be up to 102 dBA.^[17] NIOSH recommends that a worker have an 8-hour time-weighted average of noise exposure of 85 dBA.^[18] Excessive noise puts workers at an increased risk of developing hearing loss. If a worker were to develop a hearing loss as a result of occupational noise exposures, it would be classified as occupational hearing loss. Noise exposures within the forestry and logging industry can be reduced by enclosing engines and heavy equipment, installing mufflers and silencers, and performing routine maintenance on equipment.^[17] Noise exposures can also be reduced through the hierarchy of hazard controls where removal or replacement of noisy equipment serves as the best method of noise reduction.^{[citation needed]}

Injury

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The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has found that fatalities of forestry and logging workers have increased from 2013 to 2016, up from 81 to 106 per year. In 2016, there were 3.6 cases of injury and illness per 100 workers within this industry.^[19]

Illegal logging

This section is an excerpt from Illegal logging.[edit]

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v t e

protected species; or the extraction of timber in excess of agreed limits. Illegal logging is a driving force for a number of environmental issues such as deforestation, soil erosion and biodiversity loss which can drive larger-scale environmental crises such as climate change and other forms of environmental degradation

.

Illegality may also occur during transport, such as illegal processing and export (through fraudulent declaration to customs); the avoidance of taxes and other charges, and fraudulent certification.^[20] These acts are often referred to as "wood laundering".^[21]

Illegal logging is driven by a number of economic forces, such as demand for raw materials,

lumber Industry

.

Economy

The existence of a wood economy, or more broadly, a forest economy (in many countries a

At the end of their normal usage, wood products can be burnt to obtain thermal energy or can be used as a fertilizer. The potential environmental damage that a wood economy could occasion include a reduction of biodiversity due to monoculture forestry (the intensive cultivation of very few trees types); and CO₂ emissions. However, forests can aid in the reduction of atmospheric carbon dioxide and thus limit climate change.^[22]

Paper is today the most used wood product.^{[citation needed]}

History of use of wood

The wood economy was the starting point of the

Regarding the problem of climate change, it is known that burning forests increase CO₂ in the atmosphere, while intact virgin forest or plantations act as sinks for CO₂, for these reasons wood economy fights greenhouse effect. The amount of CO₂ absorbed depends on the type of trees, lands and the climate of the place where trees naturally grow or are planted. Moreover, by night plants do not photosynthesize, and produce CO₂, eliminated the successive day. Paradoxically in summer oxygen created by photosynthesis in forests near to cities and urban parks, interacts with urban air pollution (from cars, etc.) and is transformed by solar beams in ozone (molecule of three oxygen atoms), that while in high atmosphere constitutes a filter against ultraviolet beams, in the low atmosphere is a pollutant, able to provoke respiratory disturbances.^[29][30]

In a low-carbon economy, forestry operations will be focused on low-impact practices and regrowth. Forest managers will make sure that they do not disturb soil-based carbon reserves too much. Specialized tree farms will be the main source of material for many products. Quick maturing tree varieties will be grown on short rotations to maximize output.^[31]

Production by country

In Australia

• Eucalyptus: these are seven hundred tree species from Australia, that grow very fast in tropical, sub-tropical and semi-arid climates, and are very resistant to forest fires (with their tree cortex) and drought. Its essential oil is used in pharmacology, its wood for building, and the small branches as firewood and pulpwood.^{[citation needed]}

In Brazil

Brazil has a long tradition in the harvesting of several types of trees with specific uses. Since the 1960s, imported species of pine tree and eucalyptus have been grown mostly for the

• Brazilwood: has a dense, orange-red heartwood that takes a high red shine (brasa=ember), and it is the premier wood used for making bows for string instruments from the violin family. These trees soon became the biggest source of red dye, and they were such a large part of the economy and export of that country, that slowly it was known as Brazil.^[33]
• tires (vulcanized rubber). Latex has the ability to adjust to the exact shape of the body part, an advantage over polyurethane or polyethylene gloves.^{[citation needed}
  ]

The Canadian timber industry has led to environmental conflict with Indigenous people protecting their land from logging. For example, the Asubpeeschoseewagong First Nation set up the Grassy Narrows road blockade for twenty years beginning in 2002 to prevent clearcutting of their land.^[36][37]

United States

• Cherry: a hardwood prized for its high quality in grain, width, color, and rich warm glow.^[38] The first trees were carried to the lands surrounding Rome (Latium) from Armenia.^[39] In the United States, most cherry trees are grown in Washington, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, California and Oregon.^[40]
• incense-cedar).^{[citation needed}
  ]
• Mountain States, with records in fast growth and high statures in brief time. The coast Douglas fir grows in coastal regions up to altitudes of about 1,800 meters; the Rocky Mountain Douglas fir grows farther inland, at altitudes ranging from 800 m to 3,000 m or higher. The wood is used for construction, for homebuilt aircraft, for paper pulp, and also as firewood.^{[citation needed}
  ]
• bioethanol
  (useful as a fuel) could be easier and less expensive.
• Walnut: a prized furniture and carving hardwood because of its colour, hardness, grain and durability. Walnut wood has been the timber of choice for gun makers for centuries. It remains one of the most popular choices for rifle and shotgun stocks.^[44]

Nigeria

Wood obtained from Nigeria's wood industry undergoes processing in various wood processing sectors, including furniture manufacturing, sawmill operations, plywood mills, pulp and paper facilities, and particleboard mills.^[45]

In the Caribbean and Central America

• headphones.^{[citation needed}
  ]

In Europe

Italy

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The species that are ideal for the many uses in this type of economy are those employed by arboriculture, that are very well known for their features and the need for certain types of ground and climates.

• Fraxinus: being a lightweight wood is easy to transport, as firewood burns easily, grows in damp environments like those present in river flooding areas, stands pollution of water and air.
• Larix
  : in Italy it grows at high altitudes around mountain tops, its timber stand sudden climatic change, from icy winds to high temperatures in sunny afternoon summers, it is excellent for use in the building of exposed structures as bridges, roofs, etc.
• pinoli are useful elements in Italian cooking (along with basil are tritured to make pesto
  sauce). Currently, "progress" has brought to a severe reduction of this magnificent tree extensions, and in many places cheap beach buildings, car-parking and semi-abandoned areas have taken their place.
• pianura Padana. Constantly the extension of the cultivation is being reduced, from 650 km² in the 1980s to current 350 km². The yield of poplars is about 1,500 t/km² of wood every year.^[46] The production from poplars is around 45–50% of the total Italian wood production.^[47]
  • In the history of art poplar was the wood of choice for painting surfaces as panels, as in Renaissance (The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci). Because of this reason, many of the products with the highest added value, extremely expensive, are made with wood from the humble but durable poplar.
  • Because of the presence of tannic acid, poplar cortex was often used in Europe for the tanning of leather.

Portugal

• insoles. In the world there are 20,000 km² of cork oak plantations, and every year are extracted around 300,000 tons of cork, 50% in Portugal, 15,000 in Italy (12,000 in the island of Sardinia). The advantage of this natural industry is that the extraction of cork from layers outer to the cortex does not kill the tree.^{[citation needed}
  ]

In Fennoscandia[49] and Russia

In Sweden, Finland and to an extent Norway, much of the land area is forested, and the pulp and paper industry is one of the most significant industrial sectors. Chemical pulping produces an excess of energy, since the organic matter in black liquor, mostly lignin and hemicellulose breakdown products, is burned in the recovery boiler. Thus, these countries have high proportions of renewable energy use (25% in Finland, for instance). Considerable effort is directed towards increasing the value and usage of forest products by companies and by government projects.^{[citation needed]}

• Norway spruce: These species comprise most of the boreal forest, and together as a softwood mixture they are converted into chemical pulp for paper.^{[citation needed}
  ]
• Birch is a genus with many species of trees in Scandinavia and Russia, excellent for acid soils. These act as pioneer species in the frozen border between taiga and tundra, and are very resistant to periods of drought and icy conditions. The species Betula nana has been identified as the ideal tree for the acid, nutrient-poor soils of mountain slopes, where these trees can be used to restrain landslides, including in southern Europe. Dissolving pulp is produced from birch. Xylitol can be produced by the hydrogenation of xylose, which is a byproduct of chemical birch pulping.^{[citation needed]}

Outputs

This section is an excerpt from Forest product.[edit]

A

wood pulp, that is used in the production of paper. All other non-wood products derived from forest resources, comprising a broad variety of other forest products, are collectively described as non-timber forest products (NTFP).^[50][51][52] Non-timber forest products are viewed to have fewer negative effects on forest ecosystem when providing income sources for local community.^[53]

Globally, about 1,150,000,000 ha (2.8×10⁹ acres) of forest is managed primarily for the production of wood and non-wood forest products. In addition, 749,000,000 ha (1.85×10⁹ acres) is designated for multiple use, which often includes production.[54]

Worldwide, the area of forest designated primarily for production has been relatively stable since 1990, but the area of multiple-use forest has decreased by about 71,000,000 ha (180,000,000 acres).^[54]

Combustion

The

In Italy poplar has been proposed as a tree cultivated to be transformed into biofuels, because of the excellent ratio of energy extracted from its wood because of poplar's fast growing and capture of atmospheric carbon dioxide to the small amount of energy needed to cultivate, cut and transport the trees. Populus x canadensis 'I-214', grows so fast that is able to reach 14 inches (36 cm) in diameter and heights of 100 feet (30 m) in ten years.^{[citation needed]}

Charcoal

Charcoal is the dark grey residue consisting of impure carbon obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. Charcoal is usually produced by slow pyrolysis, the heating of wood or other substances in the absence of oxygen. Charcoal can then be used as a fuel with a higher combustion temperature.^{[citation needed]}

Wood gasogen

Wood gas generator (gasogen): is a bulky and heavy device (but technically simple) that transforms burning wood in a mix of molecular hydrogen (H₂), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO₂), molecular nitrogen (N₂) and water vapor (H₂O). This gas mixture, known as "wood gas", "poor gas" or "syngas" is obtained after the combustion of dry wood in a reductive environment (low in oxygen) with a limited amount of atmospheric air, at temperatures of 900 °C, and can fuel an internal combustion engine.^[56]

In the time between World War I and

The best way to obtain methanol from wood is through syngas (CO, CO₂, H₂) produced by the anhydrous pyrolysis of wood, a method discovered by ancient Egyptians.^{[citation needed]}

Methanol can be used as an oxygen-rich additive for gasoline. However, it is usually much cheaper to produce methanol from methane or from syngas. Methanol is the most important base material for industrial chemistry, where it is often used to make more complex molecules through reactions of halogenation and chemical addition reaction.^{[citation needed]}

Gas turbine

Tanks

The American M1 Abrams main battle tank is powered by a gas turbine of 1,500 hp (1,100 kW),^[57] that it is able to function also with a mix at 50% of wood powder and biodiesel, diesel fuel or kerosene. Its advantages over turbo-diesel engine, are the small size and light weight, the lack of a radiator (which gives an advantage against the effect of gun and cannon shots and missile strikes suffered in battle). A setback is the high fuel consumption, since the turbine engine has not the ability to work at a low revolutions per minute rate, much lower than ideal, and during the march this engine consumes twice as much fuel as a modern turbo-diesel engine with intercooler and direct injection.^{[citation needed]}

Construction

Wood is relatively light in weight, because its specific weight is less than 500 kg/m³, this is an advantage, when compared against 2,000–2,500 kg/m³ for reinforced concrete or 7,800 kg/m³ for steel.^{[citation needed]}

Wood is strong, because the efficiency of wood for structural purposes has qualities that are similar to steel.^{[citation needed]}

Bridges, levees, microhydro, piers

Wood is used to build bridges (as the

Hardwood is used as a material in wooden houses, and other structures with a broad range of dimensions. In traditional homes wood is preferred for ceilings, doors, floorings and windows. Wooden frames were traditionally used for home ceilings, but they risk collapse during fires.^{[citation needed]}

The development of energy efficient houses including the "passive house" has revamped the importance of wood in construction, because wood provides acoustic and thermal insulation, with much better results than concrete.^{[citation needed]}

Earthquake resistant buildings

In Japan, ancient buildings, of relatively high elevation, like

• Forestry
• Lumber
• Canada–United States softwood lumber dispute
• Forest Stewardship Council
• Low-carbon economy

Notes and references