Biobiowood is the product of Tunnicliffe’s Modification, a joint venture in New Zealand in which the timber modification expertise and experience of Denmark’s IWT-Moldrup has combined with the timber processing acumen of New Zealand-based Tunnicliffe Timber.
The process sees New Zealand radiata pine being thermally modified, using IWT-Moldrup’s state-of-the-art equipment – and then being further modified by the introduction of a new, proprietary resin treatment.
“Biobiowood is a sustainable solution that can turn thermally modified NZ Pinus Radiata into the equivalent of a premium hardwood without the use of biocides,” said the company. “The Biobiowood process involves pressure impregnating the base timber with a resin, which provides a number of industry leading features including:
- Makes the base timber look and feel like premium hardwood with a uniform brown colour throughout both the heart and sapwood.
- Creates a solid and bio-friendly durability in a low cost wood species
- Protects the wood against termites and other insects
- Allows the timber to age in a natural way without being degraded by fungi and rot
- Increases dimensional stability by approximately 50%
- Increases density by approximately 30%
- Increases hardness by approximately 300-500%
Biobiowood has already attracted interest in Japan and Europe and IWT-Moldrup’s assessment of test results on a first production plant in Germany with Japanese cedar, Japanese cypress and radiata pine have been excellent, said the company. “The results show that Japanese cedar, Japanese cypress, and radiata pine are very compatible with the resin treatment.”
A pressure impregnation plant dedicated to Biobiowood treatment will be shipped to the Tunnicliffe’s Modification processing site New Zealand at the beginning of 2023 and immediately put into operation.
In other news, IWT-Moldrup is installing two large thermal treatment plants with an annual capacity of 6,000m3 each in New Zealand and Chile, to be used on radiata pine.
