延長林產品生命週期及其技術之研究 (2/3) - Wood Products Life Cycle Extension

Wood products are used extensively in both indoor and outdoor applications because of their appealing properties. However, being a natural organic material, wood is susceptible to degradation caused by many organisms especially fungi, resulting in tremendous economic and resource losses. To extend the service life, wood products are therefore often treated with preservatives. A major problem of traditional wood preservatives is that they pose a serious threat to the environment. Because of this, environmentally benign organic preservatives for wood are urgently needed. Degradation of lignocellulosic materials because of fungi attack is a complex phenomenon not very well understood. It has been suggested that wood degradation by fungi takes place through oxidative reactions involving metals (Hammel, 1997; Kerem et al., 1999). It has also been postulated that wood extractives can protect heartwood via at least three different mechanisms, namely fungicide action, free radical scavenging/antioxidation and metal chelation (Schultz and Nicholas, 2002). The objective of this study was to investigate the possibility of using antioxidant alone or with commercial biocides as a preservative against wood decay fungi. Antifungal activities of antioxidants, propyl gallate, octyl gallate, and one metal chelator (EDTA) were tested against two wood decay fungi, Trametes versicolor and Gloeophyllum trabeum. Test results (weight loss) will be transfered to carbon loss.