New Perspectives on Preservatives

Preliminary statistics indicate that 2014 was a record year for the 60 producing members in the Swedish Wood Preserving Association. Total treated output rose 18% to 1.48 million m3 and exports 20% to 739 000m3, of which around 400,000m3 went to the UK.

These are indeed very encouraging figures and we see potential for further growth.

Markets for our treated timber include fencing, utility poles and sleepers, but the major part of the production is sawn and planed material, which is sold through builders' merchants and they are experiencing a continuing upward trend in the popularity among consumers of outdoor timber products, such as decking and other garden structures.

This development owes a lot to the numerous TV specials on home improvement and design - which I know the UK has too.

Building your own deck has certainly become a favourite hobby for many Swedes.

Despite this development, in other respects we in the wood treatment industry have tended to be quite traditional.

Of course there is a steady flow of new preservatives, new treatment methods and new types of modified wood, and we must give credit to the producers of all of these.

But where are the innovating product development ideas?

Where can we find really new markets for our products that are not only new types of decking design?

I actually don't think that our industry has been thinking out of the box for a long time. But now we are starting.

The Swedish Wood Preserving Association and the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm have started a major cooperative research programme called EnWoBio; Engineered Wood and Biobased Building Materials Laboratory.

This entails the association sponsoring a PhD student for the coming three years up to the level of licentiate, with a possible continuation up to doctor's degree.

The aim of their work will be to reinforce the competitiveness of treated timber and increase the potential for its use in areas and applications that so far have been either neglected, or actually not even thought of.

The research will also focus on developing more advanced applications, so treated timber's specific properties, combining strength and durability, can satisfy the needs of an increasingly sophisticated and demanding construction market.

The PhD student will also teach at KTH, which will raise awareness of our industry and its capabilities among young engineering students and help give it an all-round positive profile.

We are looking for the candidate now and hoping they can be in place in time to start the work in the autumn.

If we are successful in this project, we could create wholly new end-use market segments for treated timber.

This in turn would enable timber treatment companies to sell more, at a higher price, to an even wider customer base and a market increasingly looking for innovative biobased building materials to underpin a sustainable construction industry, economy and society!