Abstract:
There is a need for new solutions in wood protection against marine wood borers and
termites in Europe. A new solution could be the esterification of wood with sorbitol and citric acid
(SCA) since these are inexpensive and readily available feedstock chemicals and have shown
protective properties against fungal wood degradation in earlier studies and prevented
macrobiological degradation, as shown in this study. Protection of wood products in the marine
environment lacks available wood preservatives that are approved for marine applications. Termite
infestation is opposed mainly by biocide treatments of wood. Several wood modification systems
show high resistance against both marine borers and subterranean termites. However, the existing
commercialized wood modification products are costly. Both macrobiological forms of degradation
represent a great threat for most European wood species, which are rapidly and severely degraded
if not properly treated. This study investigated esterified wood in standard field trials against
marine wood borers, and against subterranean termites in laboratory trials in a no-choice and choice
test. The treatment showed good resistance against wood borers in the marine environment after
one season and against subterranean termites in the laboratory after eight weeks. The low termite
survival rate (SR) in the no-choice test during the first week of testing indicates a mode of action
that is incomparable to other wood modification treatments.
