PAPER making! g! FROM THE PUBLISHERS OF PAPER TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL ® Volume 11, Number 1, 2025
provides a sustainable solution for managing paper sludge, in alignment with the principles of a circular economy. “ Valorization of Municipal Solid Wastes and Paper Mill Sludge Through Their Steam Co-Gasification for the Production of Energy Carriers Rich in H2 and Lean in Greenhouse Gas Emissions ”, D. Vamvuka, N. Papanagiotou & A. Ntounta-Marek, Sustainable Chemical Engineering , Vol.6(1), 2025, 99. This study aimed to explore the valorization of municipal solid wastes and paper mill sludge through their steam co- gasification, for the production of energy carriers rich in H 2 and lean in CO 2 greenhouse gas emissions. Waste concrete fines and paper sludge ash were investigated as CO 2 sorbents and Na 2 CO 3 as a catalyst. The experiments were carried out in a fixed bed reactor coupled with a thermal analysis-mass spectrometer unit. The analysis encompassed various aspects including the composition of the resulting gas and its heating value, H 2 and syngas yield, fuel conversion and energy recovery, under different operating conditions. When quarry dust was used to capture CO 2 at a calcium-to-carbon molar ratio of unity and 750°C, H 2 in the product gas was 75.7 mol%, molar ratio H 2 /CO was 7.19 and syngas yield was 0.65m 3 /kg. When the Na 2 CO 3 catalyst was added at a loading of 20%, H 2 in the gas mixture was increased to 81%, the syngas yield to 2.82m 3 /kg and conversion of fuel was complete. When paper sludge ash was used as CO 2 sorbent a higher amount of CO 2 was captured, however the selectivity towards H 2 production was lower. The performance of Na 2 CO 3 catalyst was better in the presence of quarry dust sorbent. WOOD PANEL “ In situ structural changes of voids in OSB in three-point bending test ”, Wanzhao Li, Yunfeng Shi, Wujun Hong, Juwan Jin & Changtong Mei, European Journal of Wood and Wood Products , Vol.83, article number 43, (2025). Oriented strand board (OSB) is widely used in construction due to its cost-effectiveness and good mechanical performances. While the relationship between processing parameters and void formation has been extensively studied, the real-time behavior of voids during mechanical loading remains poorly understood. This study investigated the dynamic relationship between void characteristics and mechanical properties of OSB using digital image correlation (DIC) technology during the three-point bending tests on 15mm and 18mm thick commercial panels. Results showed that the initial void sizes in the core and face layers averaged 0.019mm² and 0.017mm² respectively, with voidage being significantly higher in the core layer than in the face layers. The size of voids hardly changes when the loading force is lower than 0.7 times of the maximum loading force. Shear strain analysis revealed that structural changes were more pronounced in and around voids compared to other regions, especially in the core layer along the major axis. Fracture initiation was primarily associated with individual voids in face layers and areas of high void concentration in the core layer. Notably, continuous and large fractures enhance the specimen’s load -bearing capacity, resulting in high MOE and MOR values. Non-continuous fractures in the core layer, however, have limited contribution to increasing MOE and MOR of the specimens. “ Real-time tracking of the characteristics of strands in OSB production lines ”, Wujun Hong, Yunfeng Shi, Ziwei Huo, Wanzhao Li & Changtong Mei, Wood Science and Technology , Vol.59, article number 16, (2025). Strand characteristics, i.e. orientation, length, width, and size, have a substantial effect on the mechanical properties of Oriented Strand Board (OSB). In this study, an automatic method was established to obtain the characteristics of the strands on the surface layer of the OSB mattress in real time by taking images and using neural networks. The Segment Anything Model was used to extract surface layer strands, the YOLOv5 model was used to distinguish and position strands, and
Technical Abstracts
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