Abstract
This study evaluated boron diffusion from rods made of raw boron minerals, ulexite and colemanite with low water solubility, in comparison with di-sodium octaborate tetrahydrate (DOT). Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) sapwood and heartwood blocks were conditioned to target moisture contents of 30%, 60%, and 90%. The rods were inserted into the blocks through treatment holes and boron diffusion was observed at three assay zones across the blocks after 7, 30, 60 and 90-day-incubation at room temperature. Ethylene glycol was also inserted into the holes to improve boron diffusion. Boron levels increased with increased wood moisture content. With some exceptions, boron in the assay zones did not tend to follow consistent amount gradients with distance from the treatment hole. Boron levels from ulexite rods were higher than those from colemanite rods, with DOT rods with the highest diffusion rates as a result of higher water solubility of DOT than ulexite and colemanite. The results suggest that ulexite-based rods may be useful in the presence of ethylene glycol in sapwood when wood is at high moisture content for extended periods.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
AWPA (2012) [American Wood Protection Association] Standard wet ashing procedures for preparing wood for chemical analyses. Standard A7−12. In: Book of standards. AWPA, Birmingham, Alabama, p 224
Bhatia TK (2002) Use of borate-treated wood as part of an IPM approach for durable and sustainable construction. In: Jones SC, Zhai J, Robinson WMH (eds) Proceedings of the 4th international conference on urban pests. Pocahontas Press, Charleston, SC, USA, pp 269–276
Birsoy R, Özbaş Ü (2012) Activity diagrams of borates: implications on common deposits. Carbonates Evaporites 27:71–85
Cabrera Y, Morrell JJ (2009) Effect of wood moisture content and rod dosage on boron or fluoride movement through Douglas-fir heartwood. Forest Prod J 59(4):93–96
Dietz MG, Schmidt EL (1987) Borate rods as an on-site remedial treatment for control of decay in wood decks. J Minn Acad Sci 53(2):22–26
Fahlstrom GB (1964) Threshold values for wood preservatives. Forest Prod J 14:529–530
Freitag CM, Morrell JJ (2002) Effect of glycol on movement of borate from fused borate rods. Forest Prod J 52(6):68–74
Freitag CM, Morrell JJ (2005) Development of threshold values for boron and fluoride in non-soil contact applications. Forest Prod J 55(4):97–101
Freitag CM, Morrell JJ, Love CS (2011) Long-term performance of fused borate rods for limiting internal decay in Douglas-fir utility poles. Holzforschung 65:429–434
Kartal SN (2009) Boron-based wood preservatives and their use. In: Chung MP (ed) Handbook on borates: chemistry, production and applications. Nova Science Publishers, Inc., New York. 978-1-60741-822-1
Kartal SN, Yoshimura T (2016) Borates: a natural way to protect wood against termites. The Japan Termite Control Association, vol 1, no 165, pp 7–10
Koumbi-Mounanga T, Morris PI, Lee MJ, Saadat NN, Leblon B, Cooper PA (2015) Prediction and evaluation of borate distribution in Eastern black spruce (Picea mariana var. mariana) wood products. Wood Sci Technol 49:457–473
Lebow ST, Anthony RW (2012) Guide for use of wood preservatives in historic structures. General Technical Report FPL-GTR-217. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, WI, p 59
Lebow ST, Lebow PK, Halverson SA (2010) Penetration of boron from topically applied borate solutions. Forest Prod J 60(1):13–22
Lebow PK, Lebow ST, Halverson SA (2013) Boron diffusion in surface-treated framing lumber. Forest Prod J 63(7/8):275–282
Melo R, Cespedes J, Zaror C (1992) Diffusion of boron salts in heartwood specimens of Chilean-grown Eucalyptus globulus. Wood Protection 2(1):9–14
Morrell JJ, Freitag CM (1995) Effect of wood moisture content on diffusion of boron-based biocides through Douglas-fir and western hemlock lımber. Forest Prod J 45(3):51–55
Morrell JJ, Sexton CM, Preston AF (1990) Effect of moisture content of Douglas-fir heartwood on longitudinal diffusion of boron from fused borate rods. Forest Prod J 40(4):37–40
Özdemir Z, Zorlu S, Akyıldız M, Eryılmaz FY (2014) Determination of indicator plants for boron in the Kırka (Eskisehir, Turkey) boron deposit area. Int J Geosci 5(1):77–84
Ra JB, Barnes HM, Conners TE (2001) Determination of boron diffusion coefficients in wood. Wood Fiber Sci 33(1):90–103
Ra JB, Barnes HM, Conners TE (2002) Predicting boron diffusion in wood from surface sorption. Forest Prod J 52(1):67–70
Terzi E, Kartal SN, Gerardin P, Ibanez CM, Yoshimura T (2017) Biological performance of particleboard incorporated with boron minerals. J For Res 28(1):195–203
Terzi E, Kartal SN, Pişkin S, Stark N, Figen AK, White RH (2018) Colemanite: a fire retardant candidate for wood plastic composites. BioResources 13(1):1491–1509
US Geological Survey Minerals Yearbook (2013) Boron [Advance Release]. U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, July 2015, 10 pp. https://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/boron/myb1-2013-boron.pdf. Accessed 26 Aug 2015
Williams LH, Amburgey TL (1987) Integrated protection against lyctid beetle infestations. IV. Resistance of boron-treated wood (Virola spp.) to insect and fungal attack. Forest Prod J 37(2):10–17
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge Karaoğluları Forest Products, Construction, Automotive Industry and Trade Incorporated Company, Tuzla, Istanbul, Turkey for Scots pine logs. The boron compounds used were supplied by Eti Maden, Ankarta (Ankara), Turkey. The boron rods were manufactured at Remsan Refractory Material Industries Inc., Istanbul, Turkey. This paper was partly presented at an International Symposium on Boron—BORON 2019 in Nevşehir, Turkey April 17–19, 2019. The work was supported by TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) under 1005—National New Ideas and Products R&D Funding Program (Project No: 1160149).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Project funding: The work was supported by TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) under 1005—National New Ideas and Products R&D Funding Program (Project No: 1160149).
The online version is available at http://www.springerlink.com
Corresponding editor: Tao Xu
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kartal, S.N., Terzi, E., Figen, A.K. et al. Comparative evaluation of boron distribution from ulexite, colemanite and DOT rods in Scots pine wood. J. For. Res. 32, 419–426 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-019-01024-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-019-01024-6