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Recycling of decommissioned CCA-treated wood into value-added enigineered wood products

Informally Refereed

Abstract

Chromatcd copper arsenate (CCA) treated wood has been most widely used in North America since the 1970's for many exterior application such as decks, fences, playground equipment, utility poles, and others. A large volume of CCA-treated wood is currently coming out of service. Traditional disposal methods such as landfilling and incineration are not without adverse environmental outcomes. Recycling CCA-treated wood into value-added engineered wood products is one alternative to ease the disposal problem. On-going collaborative research between the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center School of Renewable Natural Resources and USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station is exploring various recycling options. One product that is currently being investigated is structural flakeboard. In this study, tbe effects of different ratios of recycled CCA-treated wood and untreated virgin wood on flakeboard mechanical and physical properties were determined. Panels were manufactured from five different ratios of recycled CCA-treated wood and untreated virgin soutbern pine wood. The ratios were 100:0, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75, and 0:100. The median ratio with 50% of CCA-treated wood and untreated wood was found to be the optimum combination based on the results of this study and those of other ongoing studies by the authors.

Citation

Shupe, Todd F.; Hse, Chung-Yun. 2003. Recycling of decommissioned CCA-treated wood into value-added enigineered wood products. In: Proceedins from the 3rd Annual Special Waste Conference, December 10-12, New Orleans, Louisiana, p. 75-79
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/9799