Variability in the forest resource increases the risk to both forest growers and processors. Understanding the causes of variability of wood traits, and therefore promoting the development of superior resources and products is the major challenge in plantation forestry.
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Renewable and sustainable energy is becoming more and more important in meeting future energy demand, mitigation of fossil fuels depletion and reduction of green house gas emissions. This R&D programme aims to adapt and develop the most advanced thermo-chemical processing technologies to produce transport liquid fuels from biomass. The key technologies include gasification and gas cleaning for production of hydrogen-rich syngas followed by Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis of the syngas to liquid fuel. The goals of the research are to increase conversion efficiency, reduce production costs and minimize negative impacts on environment. The ultimate objective is thus to increase transport bio-fuel supply using New Zealand renewable energy resources of woody biomass, agricultural residues and bio-solid wastes.
Considering the intrinsic nature of the biomass with wide distribution and low density, three processing routes are under development including gasification of entire biomass, co-gasification of biomass with coal, and densification of biomass by pyrolysis for gasification. The programme also develops new biomass resources of herbaceous species to ensure sufficient biomass supply.
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We are working in collaboration with to establish a sustainable naturally-durable hardwood resource in New Zealand.
Research activities include:
- a breeding programme to enhance productivity and timber quality
- growth and yield modelling
- forest health
- wood products
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Commercial forestry is underpinned by breeding programmes. These not only consider forest growth and health traits but also wood quality traits. Planting genetically improved trees produces better wood, ensuring product quality without costly mitigation during timber processing. We collaborate with a range ofcommercial tree breeders to improve the profitability of various plantation species.
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he School of Forestry at the ҕl has gained domestic and international recognition for its extensive timber engineering research. In collaboration with industrial, academic, and research institutions, our team conducts research on the following themes:
- Structural performance of timber building components and structures
- Innovative engineered wood product development
- Timber building technology for environmental sustainabilit
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- Markets and end-uses for New Zealand forestry products
- Forestry sector workforce requirements now and in the future
- The economics of growing trees for timber and carbon
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- Joule heating of logs for phytosanitation and wood processing
- Measuring sapwood width by electric resistance probing
- Electric pruning and thinning of radiata pine
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Acoustic tools to measure wood quality. TreeTap is a hand-held field tools to measure tree stiffness in standing trees by time-of-flight. Tools to map acoustic velocity in stem discs and stem cores have also been built.
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- Design and manufacture of wooden demonstration products
- Wood art
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- Chemical analysis of wood components (sugars, extractives, inorganic elements)
- Microscopic wood and fibre analysis
- Wood properties
- Timber properties
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- SNP genetic analysis
- Taxonomy
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