Alleviating Climate Change Effect using Environmentally Friendly Process to Preserve Wood against Biodeteriaorating Agent

Abstract

Human generated climate change caused by deforestation is one of the serious issues’ humanity is facing recently. Due to the effect of diminishing forest resources on climate change, it becomes indispensable to preserve the limited wood resources using eco-friendly preservation methods. Thus, this study aimed at modification of Triplochiton scleroxylon wood, with a view to increasing its durability. Sixty clear wood blocks, each with dimension of 20x20x60 mm were obtained from Triplochiton scleroxylon. After conditioning, the wood blocks were placed in a bioreactor containing acetic anhydride and acetylated at 120 ºC for a varying time of 60, 120, 180, 240 and 300 minutes, whereas the unmodified blocks were used as control. The moisture content and weight percent gain (WPG) of the wood blocks were assessed using standard procedures. The acetylated wood was characterised by Fourier Transform-Infrared Spectroscopy. Wood blocks were exposed to termites in termite colony for 12 weeks. Analysis of variance was used to analyse the data at α 0.05. The WPG varied from 10.4% (60 minutes) to 22.7% (300 minutes). The durability of the acetylated wood was enhanced with the percentage weight loss ranging from 30.20±3.20 to 3.46±0.54. However, all treatments proved to be effective over control (44.32±6.3%).