Key issues of the upstream segment of biofuels supply chain: a qualitative analysis

The role that liquid biofuels will play in future energy systems will depend on biomass-to-energy supply chain to overcome the barriers that may hinder the development and international trade, as well as a sustainable and efficient production of biomass resources. This research paper is based on an extensive literature review, and its purpose is to identify and to investigate the variables that, throughout the agricultural biomass-to-energy supply chain, give rise to the barriers that are common to most varieties of biomass. For achieving it and to assess the effects of referred barriers were used techniques of the Soft Systems methodology. Although biomass-to-energy supply chains are diverse in terms of pattern and operations, the characteristic of the barriers involved in the research provides a broad insight into the issues and challenges to define consistent strategies and interventions for overcoming them. So, this review might be useful for further research related to agricultural biomass-to-energy supply chain optimization that is needed

Wood Science and Technology

The objective of this paper is to review the published literature on improving properties of wood composites through thermal pretreatment of wood. Thermal pretreatment has been conducted in moist environments using hot water or steam at temperatures up to 180 and 230 °C, respectively, or in dry environments using inert gases at temperatures up to 240 °C. In these conditions, hemicelluloses are removed, crystallinity index of cellulose is increased, and cellulose degree of polymerization is reduced, while lignin is not considerably affected. Thermally modified wood has been used to manufacture wood–plastic composites, particleboard, oriented strand board, binderless panels, fiberboard, waferboard, and flakeboard. Thermal pretreatment considerably reduced water absorption and thickness swelling of wood composites, which has been attributed mainly to the removal of hemicelluloses. Mechanical properties have been increased or sometimes reduced, depending on the product and the conditions of the pretreatment. Thermal pretreatment has also shown to improve the resistance of composites to decay.Cuencavolumen 47; número