Timber production from reclaimed creosote-treated wood pilings: Economic analysis and quality evaluation (1)
Published: 2001
Gardner, D. J.
Shi, S. Q.
Hoffard, T.
Publication Name: Forest Products Journal
Abstract:
The objective of this research was to evaluate the feasibility of reusing creosote-treated wood pilings removed from service at
U.S. Naval waterfront facilities. A large-scale timber-production trial was conducted at Norfolk Naval Base, Norfolk, VA, and Wood Preservers Inc., Warsaw, VA. Creosote-treated Douglas-fir and southern pine wood pilings were used in the experiments. Both
12-by-12-inch and 8-by-8-inch square timbers were sawn from the recycled pilings. The yield and economic analyses were conducted based on the large-scale experiments. Stress- wave-based nondestructive evaluation (NDE) and visual inspections were used to evaluate the potential quality of the cut logs and sawn timbers. Based on the large-scale experiment, the total timber yield from the recycled creosote-treated pilings exceeded 40 percent, and the reuse of creosote-treated pilings was found to be economically feasible. In the production trial, the reuse of the recycled creosote-treated pilings was estimated to save about $32/ton in addition to the landfill-cost avoidance. The results of the quality evaluation, including NDE and visual inspection, indicate that the square timbers sawed from the recycled creosote-treated pilings exhibit good quality for use as wales and chocks. While the modulus of elasticity (MOE) of the sawn timbers exceeded that of the logs, log and square-timber MOEs correlated well.