WOOD DEFECTS

A. BIOLOGICAL DEGRADATION Wood, either in standing trees or isolated as logs or pulpwood chips, is more resistant to biological degradation than most other plant tissues. It can undergo significant deterioration under certain circumstances, and thereby cause several potential problems for the pulp mill. Wood is also attacked by various insects and animals, but the consequences here insignificant compared to the degradation caused by plant microorganisms - especially certain fungi. The decay produced by these agents affects the processing of wood into chips and pulp; it also lowers the quality of cellulose and fibers so obtained.

Fungi
Over 200 species of fungi have been found to be associated with wood for pulp. These microorganisms are essentially microscopic, filamentous, nonchlorophyll-containing plants which derive their nourishment from the degradation of an organic substrate .

Where this substrate is wood, the material degraded can, depending on the type of fungus, be cell wall substance or stored materials such as starch or fats. In addition to a food source, fungi also require a relatively moderate temperature to be active (about 40-100F; 5-38C).

 They also need oxygen and an adequate source of water. Fungal growth can be retarded in many cases by keeping the wood moisture content above about 20% (dry basis) by spraying or submersion. Some fungi (soft rots) which can attack fresh- or salt-water saturated/submerged wood if the water is sufficiently aerated.

Some fungi preferentially attack hardwoods or softwoods; some are more active in round wood (logs) than inside-stored chips; and some are more active in the summer, or in any warm and moist climate.

(b) White Rots

These fungi are also primarily Basidiomycetes but, unlike the brown rots they generally attack both lignin and carbohydrates, leaving behind a spongy or stringy mass. The wood, when dry, often assumes a whitish or grayish color. White rots are also more common in hardwoods. Penetration of white rot hyphae through wood is via pits, perforation plates, or bore-holes, and enzymatic attack is initially on lignin or lignin and carbohydrate at the same time. Unlike brown rots, these fungi reduce cellulose DP in an end-wise manner (peeling), attacking the cell wall surface in a gradual fashion from the lumen outward.

a) Brown Rots

These are fungi principally of the Basidiomyetes category. They are more common in softwoods but some species also attack hardwoods. All prefer carbohydrates (cellulose, Hemicelluloses, starch) over other wood constituents, The affected wood may develop cubically shaped fissures perpendicular to the grain as the wood dries, and will disintegrate to a powdery mass if crushed. Fungal filaments or hyphae penetrate through pits and/or make bore-holes through the cell wall.

 Lignin-destroying enzymes may penetrate and act within the cell wall ahead of the cellulolytic enzymes. In hardwoods, syringyl lignin appears to be attacked more rapidly than guaiacyl lignin simply because total lignin is located predominantly in the fiber cells; fibers compose most of the wood in hardwoods and the lignin here is reported to be essentially of the syringyl type. As a result of their mode of attack, white rots do not reduce pulp fiber quality as rapidly or as much as in the case of brown rots. The lignin-to-carbohydrate ratio may even remain approximately the same, and pulp yield on a chip basis may appear relatively normal. Pulp yield on a tree or log basis may be lowered substantially due to wood losses during tree processing and chipping.

Brown rot in a wooden beam of Douglas-fir. (Courtesy Forest Products Laboratory, U.S. forest Service)

(c) Soft Rot

This type of fungus typically only softens and discolors the wood surfaces it attacks. Hardwoods are apparently more susceptible to these fungi, which are Ascomycetes or Fungi Imperfection. They are capable of forming bore-holes; however, they initially pass from cell to cell through pits and perforations.

Both lignin and carbohydrates are degraded by soft rots. In softwood fibers they invade the S2 layer parallel to the fiber axis and produce tunnels with conical ends.

White rot in a log of Red Oak

Bacteria
These are single-celled, microscopic plants not generally considered a significant problem in wood deterioration.

They can even sometimes be beneficial to wood processing.

They are largely associated with parenchymatous tissue in both hardwoods and softwoods. Primarily attacking storage materials and leaving lignified cell walls

Bacteria can destroy the pits and thin walls of unlignified parenchyma cells in softwoods, and in this way are known to improve the permeability of logs stored in ponds or under water spray.

Bacteria are responsible for the chemical "brown stain" in the sapwood of several standing softwoods and hardwoods. Notably western hemlock, eastern and western white pine, sugar pine, ponderosa pine, Scots pine, Pacific silver fir, noble fir, western redcedar, Sitka spruce, redwood, aspen, poplar, paper birch, and sugar maple

 This stain develops from a more generalized condition of the wood called "wetwood" in which the entire heartwood or heartwood/ sapwood boundary region becomes darker and may even ferment under the action of bacteria. Stains on exposed wood probably develop via condensation of phenolic materials which oxidize upon migration to the wood surfaces.

Wet wood has an unusually high moisture content and may be slightly reduced in strength.

 It should have little effect on resultant chip and pulp quality unless the wood is severely stained or impregnated with extractives. Examples of the latter situation may include "red heart" in paper birch, "black heart" in white fir, and the wetwood of western hemlock. In outside-stored chips, bacteria are known to retard the initial growth of decay fungi; but their presence may indicate chip pile conditions that are conducive to decay.

Effects of decay on pulping

Decay, whether found in standing trees, stored logs, or in outside chip storage (OCS), is undesirable for both chemical and mechanical pulping. Unfortunately, in practice it is difficult or impossible to avoid, since top-grade logs are often sent to the lumber or plywood mill, and culled material to the pulp mill. The latter will often include those logs with noticeable decay.

 The situation is normally better for mechanical pulps than for chemical pulps, because it is well known that the former must be made from sound chips to avoid severe problems in pulp quality.

On the other hand, chemical pulp mills usually try to make the best of the situation and, if practical, meter-in decayed logs or chips since they also contain a substantial amount of sound wood.

 Mechanical pulps using decayed wood are darker, dirtier, and of lower strength than pulps from sound wood.

Pulp yield, based on original wood, is commonly 10-15% lower; other disadvantages include increased effluent load, and potential foaming and sticking difficulties.

Unbleached or bleached sulfite pulps made from decayed wood are always lower in brightness, need more cooking chemical, and yield less pulp of lower fiber quality.

 Kraft pulping usually handles decayed wood much better than sulfite pulping, although many of the same disadvantages still apply, plus an overall slowdown in production. Due to a combination of factors, namely, lower wood density (decreased digester loading), lower unbleached yield (3-25% lower) and more dissolved wood, and up to 25% additional alkali consumption. As a consequence, the recovery boiler must process a larger volume of black liquor solids, and in many kraft mills the recovery boiler is a limiting factor for mill productivity.

B. KNOTS

A "knot" in pulpwood is the base of a branch that is enclosed in the main tree stem. While the branch is living, it is structurally connected to the tree bole. and continues to increase in diameter by means of an active cambium. With age, the lower branches die. decay and fall away, usually leaving only a small stub at the surface of the bole. The exact timing and form of this process varies with tree species, stand density, site conditions and climate. In all cases, however, the continuing increase in bole diameter results in the eventual encasement of the branch stub.

Blue stain as seen on the cross-section of southern pine log.

Cross

section of a Sitka spruce tree showing portions of two branch traces (knot wood). Note the compression wood zones associated with the knot wood areas.

C. PITCH/BARK INCLUSIONS Cavities containing liquid or solid resin and/ or patches of bark can be embedded in otherwise normal wood tissue.

They stem from continued cambial activity around wound areas in the cambium caused by insects, birds, or other agents (e.g., turpentining).
The resin or "pitch" pockets are common in those softwoods with normal resin ducts, but develop occassionally in other conifers also.

 These deposits or resin-soaked areas (called pitch streaks) vary in size along the tree axis and are lined with secreting epithelial cells. They mayor may not contain small patches of bark, but "bark pockets" usually contain pitch (e.g., "black streak" in western hemlock). The combination of bark pockets and pitch, though not a major problem for kraft mills, is particularly troublesome in sulfite mills, where it is often a cause of dirt specks in the pulp

Black streak (bark pockets) in wood chips of western hemlock.