Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Tall oil/water – emulsions as water repellents for Scots pine sapwood

Tallöl/Wasser-Emulsionen als Hydrophobierungsmittel für Kiefernsplintholz

  • ORIGINALARBEITEN ORIGINALS
  • Published:
Holz als Roh- und Werkstoff Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Like classic wood preservatives, many water repellents have the drawback of being detrimental to the environment. Hence interest in environment-friendly, even biodegradable, substances has increased. Natural oils (e.g. tall oil, linseed oil) appear to be capable of preventing water uptake by wood. However, in order to achieve total sapwood penetration, the amount of oil needed is high. The aim of this study was to investigate the water repellent efficiency of crude tall oil and crude tall oil water emulsions (oil-in-water and water-in-oil emulsions), and the possibilities of reducing the amount of oil needed with the emulsion technique. Scots pine sapwood samples were impregnated with tall oil formulations. The levels of water absorption and the degree of water repellent efficiency were determined with cyclical wetting and drying tests. The results showed that tall oil treatments reduce the water uptake of pine sapwood. With tall oil emulsion treatments almost equal water repellent efficiencies were reached as with pure tall oil, even when the oil retentions were considerably lower. The total amount of oil required could be halved. The emulsion technique is a potential method of decreasing the amount of oil needed in order to protect wood from water uptake.

Zusammenfassung

Wie viele klassische Holzschutzmittel haben auch viele Hydrophobierungsmittel den Nachteil, dass sie umweltschädlich sind. Deshalb ist das Interesse an umweltfreundlichen, insbesondere biologisch abbaubaren, Mitteln gestiegen. Natürliche Öle (wie z.B. Tallöl, Leinöl) haben grundsätzlich eine hydrophobierende Wirkung. Um jedoch eine vollständige Imprägnierung des Splintholzes zu erreichen, ist eine grosse Ölmenge erforderlich. Ziel dieser Arbeit war es, die hydrophobierende Wirkung von Tallöl sowie von Tallöl-Wasseremulsionen (Öl-in-Wasser- und Wasser-in-Öl-Emulsionen) zu untersuchen sowie festzustellen, in welchem Umfang die benötigte Ölmenge durch das Emulgieren reduziert werden kann. Kiefernsplintholzproben wurden mit Tallölgemischen imprägniert. Der Grad der Wasseraufnahme und der Hydrophobierungsgrad wurden mittels zyklischer Befeuchtungs- und Trocknungsversuche bestimmt. Die Ergebnisse zeigten, dass eine Behandlung mit Tallöl die Wasseraufnahme von Kiefernsplintholz reduziert. Behandlungen mit Tallölemulsionen erbrachten annähernd die gleiche Wasser abweisende Wirkung wie solche mit reinem Tallöl, obwohl dabei die eingebrachte Ölmenge deutlich niedriger war. Die erforderliche Ölmenge konnte auf die Hälfte reduziert werden. Die Emulsionstechnik ist eine potenzielle Methode um die Ölmenge, die zum Feuchteschutz von Holz benötigt wird, zu reduzieren.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Anonymous (1999a) Wood Handbook – Wood as an Engineering Material. Forest Products Laboratory. Gen Tech Rep FPL-GTR-113. Madison, WI, US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory (online), available from: http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/ (cited 29th September 2003)

  2. Anonymous (1999b) Natural Resin report. Natural resins as a potential wood protecting agent. Project FAIR-CT95-0089

  3. Banks WB, Voulgaridis E (1980) The performance of water repellents in the control of moisture absorption by wood exposed to the weather. In: BWPA Annual Convention, pp 43–53

  4. Borgin K (1961) The effect of water repellents on the dimensional stability of wood. Norsk Skogind 15(11):507–521

    Google Scholar 

  5. Borgin K, Corbett K (1970a) The stability and weathering properties of wood treated with various oils. Plast Paint Rubber 14(3):69–72

    Google Scholar 

  6. Borgin K, Corbett K (1970b) The stability and weathering properties of wood treated with various resins. Plast Paint Rubber 14(5):61–66

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. EN 335-1/2/3. Durability of wood and wood-based products. Definition of hazard classes of biological attack. Part 1: General, Part 2: Guide to the application of hazard classed to solid wood, Part 3: Application to wood-based panels

  8. Feist WC, Mraz EA (1978) Protecting millwork with water repellents. Forest Prod J 28(5):31–35

    Google Scholar 

  9. Jermer J, Bergman Ö, Nilsson T (1993) Fungus cellar and field tests with tall oil derivatives. Final report after 11 years’ testing. The international research group on wood preservation, document no. IRG/WP 93-30007. Stockholm, 7 pages

  10. Miniutti VP, Mraz EA, Black JM (1961) Measuring the effectiveness of water-repellent preservatives. Forest Prod J 11(10):453–462

    Google Scholar 

  11. Paajanen L, Ritschkoff A-C (2002) Effect of crude tall oil, linseed oil and rapeseed oil on the growth of the decay fungi. The International Research Group on Wood Preservation, IRG/WP 02-30299, 6 pages

  12. Paajanen L, Koskela K, Viitaniemi P (1999) Treatment of wood with a mixture of tall oil and maleic anhydride. Espoo, Technical Research Centre of Finland, VTT Julkaisuja – 836, 75 pages. In Finnish

  13. Passialis CN, Voulgaridis EV (1999) Water repellent efficiency of organic solvent extractives from Aleppo pine leaves and bark applied to wood. Holzforschung 53(2):151–155

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Porter NA, Wujek DG (1984) Autoxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids, an expanded mechanistic study. J Am Chem Soc 106(9):2626–2629

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Porter NA, Lehman LS, Weber BA, Smith KJ (1981) Unified mechanism for polyunsaturated fatty acids autoxidation. Competition of peroxy radical hydrogen atom abstraction, β-scission, and cyclization. J Am Chem Soc 103(21):6447–6455

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Rapp AO, Peek R-D (1995) New principles for the protection of wood: Impregnation with water borne resins. The International Research Group on Wood Preservation, IRG/WP 95-40047, 9 pages

  17. Razzaque MA (1982) The effect of concentration and distribution on the performance of water repellents applied to wood. University of Wales, Ph.D. Thesis

  18. Ritschkoff A-C, Rättö M, Nurmi A, Kokko H, Rapp A, Militz H (1999) Effect of some resin treatments on fungal degradation reactions. The International Research Group on Wood Preservation, IRG/WP 99-10318, 8 pages

  19. Rowell RM, Banks WB (1985) Water repellency and dimensional stability of wood. Gen Tech Rep FPL-50. Madison, WI, US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, 24 pages

  20. Sailer M, Rapp AO (2001) Use of vegetable oils for wood protection. In: COST Action E22: Environmental optimisation of wood protection. Conference in Reinbek, Germany, 8–10 November 2001

  21. Sailer M, Rapp AO, Leithoff H (2000) Improved resistance of Scots pine and spruce by application of an oil-heat treatment. The international research group on wood preservation. Document no. IRG/WP 00-40162. Stockholm, 17 pages

  22. Sailer M, Rapp AO, Peek R-D (1998) Biological resistance of wood treated with waterbased resins and drying oils in a mini-block test. The international research group on wood preservation, document no. IRG/WP 98-40107. Stockholm

  23. Stamm AJ (1964) Wood and cellulose science. Ronald Press, New York, 549 pages

    Google Scholar 

  24. Van Acker J, Stevens M (2000) Increased biological durability differs for traditional wood preservation and new non-biocidal systems (NBS). The International Research Group on Wood Preservation, IRG/WP 00-20212, 11 pages

  25. Van Acker J, Nurmi A, Gray S, Militz H, Hill C, Kokko H, Rapp A (1999) Decay resistance of resin treated wood. The International Research Group on Wood Preservation, IRG/WP 99-30206, 16 pages

  26. Van Eckeveld A (2001) Natural oils as water repellents for Scots pine. Wageningen University, Thesis AV 2001-15, 30 pages

  27. Van Eckeveld A, Homan WJ, Militz H (2001a) Water repellency of some natural oils. In: COST Action E22: Environmental optimisation of wood protection. Conference in Reinbek, Germany, 8–10 November 2001

  28. Van Eckeveld A, Homan WJ, Militz H (2001b) Increasing the water repellency of Scots pine sapwood by impregnation with undiluted linseed oil, wood oil, coccos oil, tall oil. Holzforsch Holzverw 6:113–115

    Google Scholar 

  29. Var AA, Öktem E (1999) Reduction by natural resin of water uptake in various wood species. Tr J Agr Forest 23:413–418

    Google Scholar 

  30. Voulgaridis EV (1993) Oleoresin and gum rosin from Pinus halepensis Mill. as basic constituents in water repellent formulation applied to wood. Holz Roh- Werkst 51:324–328

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Voulgaridis EV (2001) Natural oils, resins and extractives from Aleppo pine and other conifers or hardwoods as potential wood protecting or bonding agents. In: COST Action E22: Environmental optimisation of wood protection. Conference in Reinbek, Germany, 8–10 November 2001

  32. Voulgaridis EV, Banks WB (1983) Laboratory evaluation of the performance of water repellents applied to long wood specimens. Holzforschung 37(5):261–266

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Voulgaridis EV, Passialis CN (1999) Natural resins and extractives as protective agents of wood against water uptake. In: COST Action E2: Wood durability. Final Conference: “Advances in wood preservation in Europe” 25–27 January 1999, Switzerland

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Process and Environmental Engineering, Fibre and Particle Engineering Laboratory, University of Oulu, 4300, 90014, Oulu, Finland

    Anna Hyvönen, Petteri Piltonen & Jouko Niinimäki

Authors
  1. Anna Hyvönen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Petteri Piltonen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jouko Niinimäki
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anna Hyvönen.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hyvönen, A., Piltonen, P. & Niinimäki, J. Tall oil/water – emulsions as water repellents for Scots pine sapwood. Holz Roh Werkst 64, 68–73 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00107-005-0040-5

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00107-005-0040-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation