Thousands of tons of treated wood waste is landfilled, incinerated or mixed with untreated wood waste each year, a problem that is problematic because the treated wood contains preservatives such as arsenic , Chromium and copper to slow their deterioration.
To solve this problem, INRS researchers found a simple, effective and environmentally friendly solution, and they have developed a process that succeeds in removing more than 90% of the contaminants from wood waste.
With support from the Innovative Idea Fund from the National Science and Engineering Research Council, Professor Jean-FrançoisBlais and Professor Guy Mercier and their team will be able to assess the large-scale performance of the process to determine its technical and financial viability.
Professor Blais said the hydrometallurgical process can simultaneously dissolve the contaminants present in wood waste, is easy to handle, has strong metal solubilization, low greenhouse gas emissions and stands out from the prior art.
Once contaminants have been removed, wood waste can be reused as a raw material for the production of value-added products such as particleboard or wood pellet fuel. In addition, the recovered metal can be used to make by-products such as chromium oxide and copper sulfate.
In short, this hydrometallurgical process outweighs the biological and thermal processes currently used for decontamination of wood waste, which is cost-effective and offers the following advantages:
- It diverts waste from landfill or incineration, improving the management of treated waste wood.
- It allows wood fiber to be recycled.
- It reduces the recycling of wood industry pollution.
- It ensures the long-term stability of the supply of high-quality wood fiber.
