The aim of this project was to investigate the cellulose decomposition rate in the soil on the ecological conditions created by different tree species, particularly birch (Betula sp.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.). Therefore, comparable sample plots were established in adjoining birch and spruce stands. Data on the stands, the vegetation, and the soil in the sample plots were collected. The experiment was carried out in the Ruotsinkylä Experimental Forest near Helsinki in Southern Finland.
Five pieces (3x5x0.15 cm) of cellulose (bleached sulphite pulp) were dried, weighed, and fastened in a row into a nylon bag. The bags were placed into the soil at a slant so that the upmost piece of cellulose was in the depth of 0–1.5 cm and the bottom one 6–7.5 cm. The weight losses of the pieces were measured after periods ranging from 6 to 12 months.
The results show that even within the same forest type, decomposition is much more rapid in birch stands than in spruce stands. In all the stands the decomposition rate decreased rapidly with increasing depth. The difference between birch and spruce stand, as well as the decrease with increasing depth, was probably mainly due to different thermal conditions.
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The investigation concerns with the strength of the eccentric growth accompanying formation of tension wood in silver birch (Betula pendula Roth.) and downy birch (Betula pubescens Ehrh.), behaviour of wood in wood-working machines and its macroscopic characteristics, its microscopic and sub-microscopic structure, chemical composition, resistance against certain chemicals, physical properties, and the strength characteristics of wood.
The most detrimental properties of tension wood used in wood working industry are high longitudinal shrinkage, warping, twisting and checking. The wooliness of the cut is unwanted, for instance, in plywood and furniture. In pulp industry tension wood is better raw material than normal wood because it yields more and purer cellulose than normal wood. However, it has poorer strength properties.
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After the Second World War shortage of lubrication oil forced Finland to develop a substitute product that was produced of indigenous materials. This report is an overview of the history of the already terminated lubricating oil industry and it gives a detailed description of lubricating oil production.
The annual lubricating oil consumption in Finland was 15,000 tons before the war, but during the war it decreased to 7-8,000 tons. In 1943 Oy Tervaöljy Ab (Tar Oil Limited) was established with the state of Finland as the main shareholder. It was commissioned to plan and build tar and tar oil plants, and it also transmitted tar from stump wood pyrolyzing plants to oil factories. Two raw materials were used to produce tar oil: tar wood collected from Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) stumps and tall oil, a by-product of sulphate pulp mills. A total of 9,000 tons of lubricating oil substitutes was produced in 1943-1947, 53% of this from sulphate pulp mill by-products and 47% from tar and shale oil.
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