"How Stuff Works" Discovery TV

[sprucebunny]

You all may have seen this before ... "Timber" is the topic of the show at 9 Eastern time tonight.

Should be interesting.

[DanG]

That would be my favorite show, if I had cable or satellite.  My Dad watches it a lot, and I've seen a few segments when I was visiting him.  They get right into the nitty-gritty of some stuff.  The major broadcast networks are really missing the boat by not putting this stuff out over the airwaves.

[SwampDonkey]

What did they show?

[Mooseherder]

What did they show?

I missed the timber show.

Last night's show was a repeat.  They showed how Wheel Loaders are made, then Q-Tips, biodegradable bags and sumpthin else.  Next week is about Beer.

http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-schedules/series.html?paid=1.14951.25830.97.x

[SwampDonkey]

I can't get them fancy shows, I'm in the same doldrums as DanG as far as TV. :D

[tyb525]

They've thrown in something about global warming and greenhouse gases in every one I've watched.

[sprucebunny]

The "timber" show was pretty basic but did talk about how scientists can control, through genetics, the amount of lignen in hybrid poplars and the many uses of those trees including bio-mass. They had some good shots of a feller-buncher.
The show before it was about turkeys and included a segment on using thier litter for fuel. The show after it was about corn and , of course, mentioned ethanol.

One thing I didn't admire about the 3 "How Stuff Works" was some of thier hugely broad statements without the use of facts and figures. Guess I was just hoping for a little more detail and science.

After that they had a couple of "How It's Made" which showed the wheel loaders and cotton fiber production.

[SwampDonkey]

With regards to the genetics and lignin, I bet they didn't give a cost for % gain. My guess is well under 10 % gain. What lignin does is controls movement of the wood when drying since it doesn't take on moisture like pure cellulose does. It also increases stiffness. It has an excellent thermoplasticity when used in bonding of particle board. If separated from wood it looses this property. From the drying aspect I suppose the more lignin, the less drying time. Maybe that was what they were getting at for biomass.  ???

[BaldBob]

SwampDonkey,

The use of genetics to reduce lignin is primarily aimed at poplar grown for paper pulp or for use in processing for cellulosic ethanol. 

When I travel to  the Wilamette Valley I regularly pass by two fairly large (20-30K ac. ea.) hybrid poplar (Cottonwood) plantations that are planted on former sagebrush sites and drip irrigated. Both were started by paper companies. The hybrid poplar clones are highly desirable for use in what is called uncoated freesheet (writing paper) for several reasons:

1. It has a high level of brightness and requires less bleach in processing.

2. The fiber length is right for mixing (in the proper proportions)with longer fiber conifer pulp to improve the "printability"   of the paper.

3. Because each specific batch of trees comes from a single clone whose properties (fiber length, lignin content, cellulose yield/BDT,etc.) are well known, their process can be cook-booked and very uniform without a lot of trial and error to get things right for each grade of paper.

4. With reduced lignin content they have less "cooking" time and less waste.

5. These plantations are located in close proximity to a major rail line, an interstate freeway, and a port on the Columbia River for easy loading onto barges and  access to the Pacific Ocean. They also provide relatively easy year round logging.

6. It is only 7 years from shoving a stick in the ground to harvesting the tree for pulp.

One of the plantations has since been sold to a company that is building a very large sawmill (supposed to be one of the largest hardwood mills in the country) to process most of the wood for furniture stock.  I expect that they will be breeding for different genetic characteristics than the paper company was.  The paper company that started that plantation made a major strategic blunder - the type of paper that they produce (paperboard  e.g. milk cartons) doesn't benefit from most of the advantages that poplar provides for writing paper.

I understand that the new owners plan to grow the trees on a 10 year rotation with a target dbh of about 12-14".  However, to do that they will need to get some legislation passed so that the operation is still treated as agricultural rather than a forestry operation. Otherwise they will be subject to the Oregon Forest Practices act (with limitations on clearcut size and requirements to leave so many wildlife trees/ ac., etc.) and will have to pay a forest products harvest tax.

I used to worry that because these plantations consisted of clones that they were particularly vulnerable to decimation by insects or disease. However, each plantation contains 15-30 different clones, and they add new clones each year so they are probably keeping ahead of the pests.

[SwampDonkey]

Bob, thanks for sharing that. Yes, it is true that in pulping they want as little lignin as possible. The old Kraft mill about 40 miles from here used just about every kind of wood. But, they took one pile of aspen off these side hills along the river valley and beyond. They actually said they were a little too far south of the heart of the hardwood country up here. They took a lot of low grade hardwood as well. Most hardwood up here is pretty much low grade. Even in virgin forest that was never cut, those big old hardwood leaned hard and were all hollow, if not they were well rotten inside. The bark looks different on the old maple trees to, compared to in close to settlements where nothing was allowed to grow old, or rarely unless pine or hemlock that most loggers walk by now.

The Mäule test with chlorine and ammonia will show if lignin is present, red for hardwood, brown for softwood. Another lignin type uses hydrochloric acid to detect it's presence, red color. [Textbook of Wood Technology]

Here's the bible on paper making if you feel like thinning your wallet of a few $100 bills. :D

Analytical Methods in Wood Chemistry, Pulping and Papermaking (Hardcover)

Haven't planted much for poplar clones here and no restrictions on private land as to how much can be cut and tax collected on 100 acres of forest land wouldn't pay for a fill-up of gas in the pickup. :D  Heard of some cloning in southern Ontario that didn't do very good, got diseased bad.

[SwampDonkey]

Added a link to a book on the paper making process. EXPENSIVE!