The board foot to ton of chips (BFTC) ratio is a common lumber quality index used by small sawmil... more The board foot to ton of chips (BFTC) ratio is a common lumber quality index used by small sawmills to gauge sawing efficiency. Producing too many chips, relative to board footage at any given time, is considered inefficient since a unit conversion into lumber is clearly more valuable than a unit conversion into ton of chips. Sawyers and managers thus assume normality and independence of the BFTC ratio when they attempt to identify outlying performance. The objectives of this study were to determine: a) the distributional properties of BFTC ratio; b) if a negative autocorrelation exists between board footage and ton of chips; c) the appropriate diagnostics for BFTC ratio to determine abnormal deviation from mean process performance; and d) if differences in BFTC models between species exist. The results of this study demonstrate a skewed distribution. Also, the independence assumption was violated as a result of autocorrelation between consecutive months. A residual plot versus time series chart from an auto regression model provided a better estimate of outlier boundaries, which was needed to detect process errors or changes. All processes appeared to follow a linear autocorrelation model instead of the traditional least squares regression. Absence of significant auto regression for poplar was an indication of a process change at 18 months, which masked the ability to detect the autoregressive correlation. Identification of the process change and the creation of two models for poplar confirmed the autoregressive nature for all three species.
Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics, Oct 22, 2016
Molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) films with optical properties were successfully grown on wood substrat... more Molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) films with optical properties were successfully grown on wood substrates using a low-temperature hydrothermal method. Scanning electron microscopy analysis shows that MoO3 thin films were composed of rods-like microstructures and the rod sizes increased as the initial pH value of the solution increased. X-ray diffraction studies indicate crystallinity was greatly improved by increasing the pH value of the precursor solution. Raman spectrum, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis further proves that pure MoO3 films could be grown on a wood substrate. The UV–Vis analysis suggests that the films exhibited better in response to UV light. The band gap energy estimated from the Kubelka–Munk function was found to be in the range of 2.847–2.974 eV. The results from thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry experiments imply that the films possessed good thermal stability.
Supercritical CO2 (sCO2) displaces water from wastewater, alum, and papermill sludge. The sCO2 ap... more Supercritical CO2 (sCO2) displaces water from wastewater, alum, and papermill sludge. The sCO2 appears to enter the sludge matrix through viscous fingering through the entrained water. Because the water removed far exceeds the solubility of water in sCO2, it must be displaced by the sCO2 rather than dissolved out. Adding a small amount of soap to the sludge converts some of the bound water into free water, which can then be displaced by sCO2. Application of the sCO2 in multiple stages greatly enhances dewatering as compared to a single stage process. Approximately 70, 70 and 85% of the initial water can be removed from alum, wastewater and paper sludges, respectively, through a five-stage process. Staged application of sCO2 doubles the efficiency of water removal over a single-stage process of the same duration. It is proposed that when the sCO2 entrained in the sludge is decompressed between stages some of the water is explosively displaced by the expanding CO2.
The board foot to ton of chips (BFTC) ratio is a common lumber quality index used by small sawmil... more The board foot to ton of chips (BFTC) ratio is a common lumber quality index used by small sawmills to gauge sawing efficiency. Producing too many chips, relative to board footage at any given time, is considered inefficient since a unit conversion into lumber is clearly more valuable than a unit conversion into ton of chips. Sawyers and managers thus assume normality and independence of the BFTC ratio when they attempt to identify outlying performance. The objectives of this study were to determine: a) the distributional properties of BFTC ratio; b) if a negative autocorrelation exists between board footage and ton of chips; c) the appropriate diagnostics for BFTC ratio to determine abnormal deviation from mean process performance; and d) if differences in BFTC models between species exist. The results of this study demonstrate a skewed distribution. Also, the independence assumption was violated as a result of autocorrelation between consecutive months. A residual plot versus time series chart from an auto regression model provided a better estimate of outlier boundaries, which was needed to detect process errors or changes. All processes appeared to follow a linear autocorrelation model instead of the traditional least squares regression. Absence of significant auto regression for poplar was an indication of a process change at 18 months, which masked the ability to detect the autoregressive correlation. Identification of the process change and the creation of two models for poplar confirmed the autoregressive nature for all three species.
Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics, Oct 22, 2016
Molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) films with optical properties were successfully grown on wood substrat... more Molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) films with optical properties were successfully grown on wood substrates using a low-temperature hydrothermal method. Scanning electron microscopy analysis shows that MoO3 thin films were composed of rods-like microstructures and the rod sizes increased as the initial pH value of the solution increased. X-ray diffraction studies indicate crystallinity was greatly improved by increasing the pH value of the precursor solution. Raman spectrum, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis further proves that pure MoO3 films could be grown on a wood substrate. The UV–Vis analysis suggests that the films exhibited better in response to UV light. The band gap energy estimated from the Kubelka–Munk function was found to be in the range of 2.847–2.974 eV. The results from thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry experiments imply that the films possessed good thermal stability.
Supercritical CO2 (sCO2) displaces water from wastewater, alum, and papermill sludge. The sCO2 ap... more Supercritical CO2 (sCO2) displaces water from wastewater, alum, and papermill sludge. The sCO2 appears to enter the sludge matrix through viscous fingering through the entrained water. Because the water removed far exceeds the solubility of water in sCO2, it must be displaced by the sCO2 rather than dissolved out. Adding a small amount of soap to the sludge converts some of the bound water into free water, which can then be displaced by sCO2. Application of the sCO2 in multiple stages greatly enhances dewatering as compared to a single stage process. Approximately 70, 70 and 85% of the initial water can be removed from alum, wastewater and paper sludges, respectively, through a five-stage process. Staged application of sCO2 doubles the efficiency of water removal over a single-stage process of the same duration. It is proposed that when the sCO2 entrained in the sludge is decompressed between stages some of the water is explosively displaced by the expanding CO2.
The use of acoustic techniques as a nondestructive tool for rapid assessment of quality propertie... more The use of acoustic techniques as a nondestructive tool for rapid assessment of quality properties of wood is gaining grounds and there are several acoustic tools commercially available. Even though the fundamental principles underlying their operations are similar, their sensitivity to moisture in wood might differ. In this study, we explored how the equilibrium moisture content of small clear wood samples (2.5cm x 2.5cm x 41cm) affect the predictive capabilities of two acoustic tools namely Fakopp Microsecond Timer and Fakopp Resonance Log Grader. The results indicate the acoustic velocity decreases by 27.5m/s and 28.8m/s for Microsecond Timer and the Resonance tools respectively for unit increase in EMC below fiber saturation point. The change is rather slow about 5.8m/s and 4.6m/s for EMC above fiber saturation point. However, the mean velocity of the Resonance tool is significantly higher than that of Microsecond Timer. These results suggest that the acoustic velocity is sensitive to equilibrium moisture content of loblolly pine and this sensitivity depends on the type of acoustic tool used.
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