Scientific publications

Data are presented on timber harvesting around the globe and in major wood-processing countries, on the production of the main kinds of wood fibre materials and paper, on per capita consumption of paper and cardboard products. The role of deciduous timber is shown to be growing. The main parameters of the chemical composition and prosenchymatous cells of some woody species are provided. Main components of wood (cellulose, lignin, hemicelluloses, resins and fats) are described. Substantial changes in the chemical composition of wood are shown to occur during transition from juvenile to older age. First results of research into the structure of the amorphous component of cellulose and lignin are reported (roentgenogram profiles and computer modeling). Data are presented on changes in the wood chemical composition in sulphite and sulphate processes of pulp cooking. It is demonstrated that the composition of acidic sulphite liquors is definitely more promising for manufacturing of various kinds of products compared to sulphate pulp cooking. The advantage of the latter process is that it enables a closed production cycle, but the amounts and toxicity of the cooking products are greater than in the sulphite process. Attention is drawn to the considerably higher costs of producing bleached sulphate pulp due to the problem of dioxin derivatives. Manufacturing of high-yield semi-finished fibrous products is noted to involve higher energy consumption, and lower yield compared to ground pulp. Major concepts of organizing a low/non-waste enterprise, especially in the chemomechanical timber processing industry, are considered. It is stressed that the concepts of a non-waste and an environment friendly industry are not identical. An alternative approach to establishing a non-waste, environment friendly enterprise in the forest sector is suggested, data on the stocks of major organic fossil fuels are provided. Technical civilization is shown to be encroaching upon the humanity all over the globe – organic material is decreasing in quantities, getting transformed into CO2 and water, and its stocks may soon get exhausted; deforestation (desertification) is underway; the percentage of oxygen is decreasing with no adequate replenishment. Objective reality demands that material and intellectual resources are redirected into the agro-forestry sector with a chemical biotechnology superstructure, since within a very brief historic time period, plant, especially woody, biomass shall become the only real source for manufacturing, products a civilized human community cannot do without.