Efficacy and environmental impact of new wood preservatives evaluated by portable labs and field stakes

木材是一种优良的可再生生物资源。然而，一些由木材制成的产品，特别是户外应用（电线杆和铁路领带）很容易被高湿度和腐烂微生物破坏。必须使用适当的木材防腐剂来保护木制品不变质。由于日益增长的环境问题和日益严格的政府法规，木材防腐剂在过去几十年中发生了迅速的变化。斯特拉-琼斯公司（SJI）是北美领先的木制品制造商，一直积极研究开发危害较小的防腐剂，以尽量减少生产过程对环境的影响。本项目拟大规模全面评估一种新型防腐剂（五氯酚的替代品，由于环境问题正在逐步淘汰）异噻唑酮，4,5-二氯-2-正辛-4-异噻唑啉-3- 1 （DCOI）的功效和环境影响。这将允许dcoi处理的木材产品暴露于自然存在于环境中的木材破坏真菌，并评估其在真实森林领域的自然耐久性。预期的结果包括优化压力处理参数，证明DCOI对加拿大木材品种的功效，以及对这种新型木材防腐剂的环境评估，这将有助于SJI在加拿大使用这种新型防腐剂。由此产生的效益包括：1)经济上，确保SJI持续满足现有客户对目前经PCP处理的木制品的需求，保持或增加年收入；ii)在环境方面，DCOI具有非持久性，可生物降解性，比PCP更有效，因此低剂量将最大限度地减少对环境的影响；在社会上使用危害较小的木材防腐剂可以提高公众对可持续生物经济发展的认识。所有这些都将使SJI成为木材行业对社会和环境负责的企业的良好典范。同时，将使加拿大在生物资源的可持续利用和环境保护方面处于世界领先地位。

Wood is an excellent renewable bioresource. However, some products derived from wood, particularly for outdoor applications (utility poles and railway ties) are easily destroyed by high moisture and decay microorganism. Proper wood preservatives must be applied to protect the wood products from deterioration. Wood preservatives have undertaken rapid changes in the past decades due to growing environmental concerns and increasingly strict governmental regulations. Stella-Jones Inc. (SJI), a leading North American manufacturer of treated wood products, has been active in research to develop less hazardous preservatives to minimize the impact of the manufacturing process on the environment. This project intends to thoroughly evaluate the efficacy and environmental impact of a new preservative (a replacement for pentachlorophenol that is being phased out due to environmental concern), iso-thiazolone, 4,5-dichloro-2-n-octyl-4-isothiazolin-3-one (DCOI) at larger scale. This will allow DCOI-treated wood products to be exposed wood-destroying fungi that naturally present in the environment and evaluate their natural durability in real forest fields. Anticipated outcomes include optimized pressure treating parameters, proof of the efficacy of DCOI on Canadian wood species as well as environmental assessment of this new wood preservative, which will help SJI to license the use of this new preservative in Canada. The resulting benefits include: i) economically, ensure SJI to continuously meet the existing customers' demand of wood products that are currently treated by PCP, and maintain or increase annual revenues; ii) environmentally, DCOI is nonpersistent, biodegradable and more effective than PCP, thus a low dosage will minimize the impact on the environment; iii) using less hazardous wood preservatives socially increases the public awareness of development of a sustainable bio-economy. All these will set SJI as a good example of a socially and environmentally responsible enterprise for the wood industry. Also, will position Canada as a leader in the world regarding sustainable utilization of bioresource as well as mindful environment protection.