US 12,011,845 B2
Construction of structural materials from lumber using a carbonate or oxygen pre-treatment and densification
Junyong Zhu, Madison, WI (US); Roland Gleisner, Jefferson, WI (US); Riley Simson, Madison, WI (US); Jiaqi Dai, Washington, DC (US); and Yelizaveta Pikus, Phoenix, AZ (US)
Filed by The United States, as represented by the Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, DC (US); Jiaqi Dai, Washington, DC (US); and Yelizaveta Pikus, Phoenix, AZ (US)
Filed on Jul. 14, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/864,763.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/221,968, filed on Jul. 15, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2023/0029556 A1, Feb. 2, 2023
Int. Cl. B27K 5/06 (2006.01); B27K 3/08 (2006.01); B27K 3/18 (2006.01); B27K 3/32 (2006.01)
CPC B27K 5/065 (2013.01) [B27K 3/08 (2013.01); B27K 3/18 (2013.01); B27K 3/32 (2013.01)] 16 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for producing a structural material from lumber, the method comprising:
impregnating the lumber with an aqueous solution comprising a base by soaking the lumber in the aqueous solution comprising the base, whereby the aqueous solution comprising the base infiltrates the lumber, and then removing the lumber from the aqueous solution comprising the base;
exposing the impregnated lumber to an environment having an oxygen partial pressure greater than that of ambient air at an elevated delignification temperature in a pressurized vessel to partially delignify the lumber; and
compressing the lumber at an elevated compression temperature to densify the lumber.