Mill Product News - Ligna Report: Making wood do more

Ligna Hannover 2009 wrapped up May 22. Ligna organizers said in a press release that they were satisfied with the event and the mood among the 1,758 exhibitors was upbeat. More than 83,000 visitors came from all over the world to find hundreds of impressive displays, ingenious innovations, exciting ideas and a vast amount of information on every aspect of the wood industry. The superb weather was a bonus for everyone.

Some exhibitors who spoke to this editor had come with modest expectations due to economic conditions but were pleasantly surprised. Others, Ligna veterans, noticed that the whole event was played in a lower key than before but also found they had inquiries from yet untapped markets. Signs that although times are hard, change is in the air. And change brings opportunity.

To paraphrase the Ligna theme, Making more out of wood, there were also displays that showed how to make wood do more. Here are some of the highlights.

DendroLight is a revolutionary lightweight panel made in Latvia that combines lower weight with very high strength properties. It's a three layered panel with a core layer made of low grade sawn timber that has a pattern of hollow chambers worked into it which reduce its weight and give it a very interesting aesthetic. DendroLight can be made of a wide range of wood species and used for furniture, load-bearing construction, doors, flooring and many other applications where light weight and high strength are needed.

Woodfiber insulation board is beginning to replace mineral fiber and plastic foam in Germany for thermal and sound insulation in roofs, walls and floors. Its thermal capacity is higher and protects in summer and winter. Made of softwood chips with a resin binder, the board can also be made with a hydrophobic additive and fire retardant. Siempelkamp has developed a new dry concept for making the boards which allows production using a continuous dry-manufacturing process.

Wood briquettes for heating are an alternative to wood pellets that require a relatively low equipment investment and can be manufactured efficiently on a small scale basis. They can be made from any type of wood residue and other fiber in cylindrical or rectangular shapes in a variety of sizes. The RUF company from Germany, Danish company C.F. Nielsen and Dipiu from Italy are among several offering briquetting technology and expertise.

Stellac is a process for thermal modificiation of solid wood that uses heat with no added chemicals. It improves the durability of the wood, adding decay and fungus resistance for outdoor use and superior dimensional stability for better performance. It also darkens the color of the wood to an attractive richness and improve homogeneity to substitute for exotic species. Applications of the finished product include interior use in demanding environments like kitchens and bathrooms and outdoors for decks and fences.

Woodpolis is a Finnish wood expertise network that promotes increasing the level of know-how for using wood in the construction industry. Besides providing business-oriented services and solutions for energy-efficient wood construction, members of the network like Finnish architects Lunden Osterlund, search new ways of communicating between architecture, advanced 3-D modeling and new fabrication methods. One example is the Woodpolis pavilion which uses natural growth patterns of trees as its inspiration and structural model.