Centre de Recherches Agronomique (CRA), Agricultural Research Centre in Gembloux, Belgium stands at the forefront of agricultural research in Europe, particularly in the field of biomass utilization and transformation. The leading scientist in the network is Mr. Michael Temmerman.
The Agricultural Engineering Department is part of
CRA's Centre Genie Rural. The Department carries out researches and
experimentation in two main sectors: agricultural mechanization and energy and
industrial use of biomass. These two research topics have led to the setting up
of two Units, themselves subdivided into units. The general aim of the Biomass Unit is to contribute to the
socio-economic development and to a better environment by using biomass in a
more complete and efficient way in the energy and non-food industrial
utilization sectors.
The activities of the Biomass Unit include four
main areas:
· mobilization
· conditioning
· energy utilization
· industrial utilization,
The research and development activities of the Unit
are carried out in collaboration with a network of public as well as private,
Belgian as international organizations and enterprises. Those actions include,
besides the technical and scientific components, the socio-economic and
environmental aspects, in industrialized countries, as well as in countries
being industrialized (Asia, Eastern Europe) and developing countries (Africa,
Latin America, the Caribbean).
The activities of the Biomass Unit are organized
either in projects being specific to an area, or in integrated projects,
combining two or several areas. Furthermore, the Biomass Unit takes part in
international programmes or in national and European biomass programmes.
Centre Technique du Bois et de l'Ameublement
(Technical Centre
for Wood and Furniture)
Centre Technique du Bois et de l'Ameublement
(CTBA) was created in 1952 to provide industry with services including
research, studies, testing, certification, standardization, technical
assistance, consulting, technology watch, training and documentation.
CTBA deals with issues related to wood, from
harvesting to end products, and with furniture issues also including other
materials than wood. Today, 260 employees - of which two thirds are engineers
and technicians - constitute the workforce, located at three sites in France:
Paris, Pont-à-Mousson, and Bordeaux where a new important unit for wood &
construction has been fully operational since 1999.
Research and studies constitute 30% of the
activities, with a large involvement in European research for several years.
Research is carried out in the following fields: harvesting, drying, defect
detection, characterization, machining, preservation, coating, gluing,
construction - assembly, furniture design, and environment. CTBA's Research
Report can be accessed at: www.ctba.fr
As member of European scientific and sectoral
networks, CTBA contributes to a rich exchange concerning R&D issues aiming
at anticipating industry's future needs: COST, Eurowood (wood research and
technology institutes), Eurifi (furniture research and technology institutes).
The responsible scientist for the network will be Ir.
Jean-Luc Kouyoumji (Ph.D. candidate). He is the group leader of
bamboo projects within CTBA. He is specialized in building engineering and
acoustics and has studied the mechanical behavior of bamboo in the Fair Project
‘Bamboo for Europe’.
Assisting Ir. Kouyoumji in this project are Dr.
Jean-Denis Lanvin, Mr. Pierre Bonfils, and Mr. Francois Plassat, all of whom
also participated in the Fair Project ‘Bamboo for Europe’. Dr. Lanvin holds a
Ph.D. in mechanics and is specialized in wood grading and non-destructive
tests. Mr. Bonfils is a commercial engineer specialized in business, marketing,
development issues and socioeconomic analysis. Mr. Francois Plassat is a wood
engineer and is specialized as a furniture consultant and in technical-economical
studies.
Forest Research Institute Malaysia
FOREST RESEARCH
INSTITUTE MALAYSIA (FRIM) is Malaysia’s premier R&D institution
on forestry and forest products. FRIM was formerly known as Forest Research
Institute, under the administration of Forest Department of Peninsular
Malaysia. It became a statutory body in 1985. Today it has more than 600
employees.
FRIM
places a strong focus of bamboo. In its research programmes for 2001-2005 there is a special
programme on processing and utilization technology of non-wood resources
(Rattan and Bamboo). The priority
areas include post-harvest technology, product development and quality
enhancement. FRIM is also a partner in the INCO project “Sustainable management
and quality improvement of bamboo and products”. More specifically a natural
stand with Gigantochloa scortechinii
and Dendrocalamus pendulus serves as
one of the key elements in the whole project.
Abdul
Latif Mohmod (Ph.D.) will lead the participation of FRIM and will be assisted
by Dr. Azmy Mohamed.
Imperial College of Science,
Technology, and Medicine
Imperial College of Science Technology &
Medicine (ICSTM) is an independent constituent part of the University of
London. It was established in 1907 in London’s scientific and cultural
heartland in South Kensington, as a merger of the Royal College of Science, the
City and Guilds College and the Royal School of Mines. During the 1970s and 80s
it expanded considerably with addition of medical faculty and merger with Wye
College of the University of London. Today the College comprises 19
Departments.
The Department of Biological Sciences, which is
one of the largest in the UK, is distinguished by its The Timber Research Group
which has carried out fundamental research, technical development and teaching
in wood science and related topics since the early 1900s. Since the 1960s there
has been emphasis on the microbial degradation of wood cell walls, the
microbial ecology of wood breakdown and the various methods for wood
preservation.
More
recently, fundamental research, under the direction of Dr. R. J. Murphy, has
concentrated on various aspects of wood cell wall structure and ultrastructure
and their relationship with microbial breakdown mechanisms and wood
preservative performance. Studies on bamboo cell walls began in the mid-1980s
and since then Dr. Murphy has been actively engaged in research in bamboo
anatomy. He played an important role in European bamboo research as the main
coordinator of the INCO project Sustainable Management and Quality Improvement
of Bamboos and Products.
Richard
Murphy (B.Sc., Ph.D.) has over 20 years of academic experience in research and
teaching in biology. He is specialized in plant and wood biology, mycology and
environmental impact assessment of plant-based materials. He has had a special
interest in bamboo structure and biodeterioration since 1987.
Dr.
Murphy will be assisted in this project by Mrs. Cristina Gritsch (B.Sc.,
M.Sc.). Mrs. Gritsch has undergraduate and postgraduate training in plant
biology and is specialized in plant structure and cell wall research on
bamboos.
Ghent University
Laboratory of Wood Technology
Research
at the Laboratory of Wood Technology of Ghent
University (RUG) spans four fields of wood science: wood quality, wood
preservation, wood modification and wood finishing. The laboratory is headed by
Prof. Dr. Ir. Joris Van Acker
To
investigate the suitability of a certain wood species for a specific
end-product, wood quality and physico-chemical properties are evaluated. Within
the scope of genetic improvement of fast growing species, selection criteria
for early analysis of wood quality are developed using quantitative techniques.
Taking into account the possible end-use of a species, research focuses on
limiting factors such as natural durability and dimensional stability.
Multidisciplinary research aims at identifying the causes of ‘oak disease’ and
its influence on wood properties. New wood preservatives are screened for their
efficiency against different species of wood destroying fungi in laboratory
experiments as well as in field tests. Test methodology is also evaluated and optimized.
Wood preservation uses biocide products and therefore additional research
focuses on the possible environmental impacts of this industrial activity.
At the
European level, two developments should be noted in relation to fast growing
wood species. On the one hand, the increasing knowledge of the properties of
fast grown wood will have an impact on its processing and on the quality of the
end products. On the other hand, the forestry and the tree breeding sectors are
showing a clear interest in collecting more data on the influence of changed parameters
in their sector on the final wood quality.
The
interest in bamboo has developed when the laboratory became a contractor in the
FAIR project bamboo for Europe. Intensive research has been performed on anatomical and
physico-chemical characteristics of bamboos grown in Europe. Several techniques were used, including
ESEM techniques. In cooperation
with Belgian panel producers like Unilin and Spano, test and experiments have
been performed on the chipping and processing of bamboo at an industrial scale.
With BioComposites Centre as
subcontractor extensive work has been done on evaluating the potential of
bamboo for MDF in Europe. This
work has been presented at the IUFRO Congress in Kuala Lumpur, August 2000.
Instituut Plantenbiotechnologie voor Ontwikkelingslanden
(IPBO)
Institute Plant Biotechnology for Developing Countries
IPBO was created in 2000 under the impulse
of Professor Emeritus Dr. Marc Van Montagu of the Department
of Molecular Genetics of Ghent University.
IPBO has as a mission of training and technology
transfer and of stimulating developing countries to establish their own competitive
plant biotechnology research. IPBO assists institutions and researchers in
developing countries find the right partners to develop strategies to solve
specific agricultural problems.
IPBO's research programs are oriented to the needs
of developing countries and focus on agricultural productivity and
biodiversity. Its initial projects are directed towards nutritional improvement
of beans, and the response of rice to flooding.
IPBO's director, Prof. Dr. Godelieve Gheysen is a
prolific scholar who will play a key role in the BTN project by supervising
research activities aimed at developing a database of AFLP® markers
for bamboos.
International
Network for Bamboo and Rattan
(INBAR)
The International Network for Bamboo and Rattan
(INBAR) is an international organization created by 22 Member States of the
United Nations and has its Headquarters in Beijing, China. Through a growing
Network of participating organizations and individuals from all continents of
the world, INBAR develops and assists in the transfer of appropriate
technologies and solutions to benefit the peoples of the world and their
environment.
INBAR has four main programmes:
1. Ecological
Security aims at
improving knowledge of bamboo and rattan resources and their contribution to
rural development, environmental benefits and disaster avoidance.
2.
Livelihood Development aims
to improve socio-economic benefits of bamboo and rattan in order to reduce
poverty and secure incomes.
3.
Economic Development aims to
improve the recognition of bamboo and rattan as a raw material for sustainable
income generation.
4.
Outreach aims to:
develop a decentralized network; promote technology transfer through improved
South-South communication; assess training needs and arrange training
activities; provide information services with appropriate media; and assess
impact and monitoring.
INBAR regularly publishes technical papers and
practical manuals on bamboo and rattan and is the leading source of technical
information on the subject. In addition, INBAR has recently established the
Journal of Bamboo and Rattan, an international peer reviewed scientific journal
on research and development of bamboo and rattan, which covers numerous areas
including technical properties, socio-economical aspects, environmental issues,
and bio-energetics.
Dr. Ralf H. Kwaschik is the lead scientist
representing INBAR in the Bamboo Thematic Network Project. Dr. Kwaschik has
expertise in several fields including agriculture, research management,
technology transfer and Networking. He coordinates various outreach activities
of INBAR and manages the INBAR Interactive Knowledge Networking (INBAR-IKON)
project.
Oprins Plant NV (OPRINS) is a nursery and a
wholesale supplier of ornamentals and starter plants for the commercial nursery
industry and plantations. The company is managed by Jan Oprins
and has subsidiaries and joint ventures in several countries, including France,
the Netherlands, and Spain. The company has a workforce of 150 people in Europe.
Since 1985 OPRINS has focused on bamboo both as an
ornamental and as an agroforestry plant. The company has developed tissue
culture protocols for bamboo and is actively involved in biotechnological
research in bamboo. In 1999 the company established a modern laboratory for the
production of bamboos, and a variety of other plants. In spring 2000 the company launched a research project
focusing on genetic improvement of bamboos with in vitro hybridization and
genetic transformation. Research on bamboo also includes
morphology, physiology and genetics.
OPRINS participated in the Fair project Bamboo for Europe as coordinator of the
work package on Propagation, Silviculture and Harvesting of Bamboo. Research
focused on using bamboo as an agricultural plant in Western Europe that can be
harvested mechanically. In the
INCO Project Sustainable Management and Quality Improvement of
Bamboos and Products, Oprins Plant conducted research to assess
genetic diversity in bamboos using AFLP® markers.
OPRINS has taken the initiative to organize the
participants for the BTN project in order to build a strong and open
cooperation between industries and researchers in Europe and Asia.
The
project manager of the BTN is Dr. Victor Brias. Dr. Brias is the Project
Development Manager at Oprins Plant and is responsible for the company's
agroforestry projects in developing countries. He has a broad academic
background which ranges from philosophy and logic to auditing, finance, and
informatics. He has been involved in managing bamboo projects since 1995 and
moderates several bamboo discussion groups on the Internet.
The scientist in charge of the BTN project within
Oprins Plant is Mr. Johan Gielis. He holds a degree in industrial engineering and is
specialized in bamboo biotechnology and mathematics. In 2001 he published his
mathematical research on the geometry of natural forms, and has developed
general algorithms with applications in botany.
Mr.
Gielis is responsible for Research and Development, Protection of Intellectual
Property and Technology Transfer at Oprins Plant. He has published numerous articles on bamboo and is
recognized world-wide as an innovative scientist fully dedicated to bamboo.
University
of Hamburg
Institute
of Wood Biology
The Institute
of Wood Biology of the University
of Hamburg has a distinguished reputation in bamboo research -
thanks largely to the extensive work of Professor Emeritus Dr. Walter Liese,
who is a key partner in the BTN project.
Prof. Liese is an outstanding scientist
whose research on bamboo dates back to 1958. He is a renowned expert on bamboo anatomy and preservation of
bamboo. The depth and volume of
his work on bamboo, which comprises hundreds of articles, books, technical
reports and feasibility studies, is unparalleled by any single researcher. He has supervised over 60 Ph.D. theses,
most of which dealt with bamboo. Many of his students are now leading bamboo scientists,
notably Dr. Latif Mohmod (FRIM) and Prof. Yulong Ding (INBAR).
Prof. Liese has been engaged in the two EC funded
research projects on bamboo. In the INCO project Sustainable management and
quality improvement of bamboo and products, his role is that of general adviser
to the research program. In the
FAIR project Bamboo for Europe he advised on quality
degradation of harvested bamboos.
He is
also a past president of IUFRO and has acted as advisor for FAO and INBAR. Prof. Liese is the recipient of five Doctor
Honoris Causa degrees and was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award of
the European Bamboo Society in 1995.
University of the Philippines Los Baños
(UPLB)
The
University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) is renowned as one of the
leading educational institutions for agriculture and forestry in south east
Asia. It is one of the six constituent universities of the University of the
Philippines System. It started out as a College of Agriculture in 1909 and
became a full-fledged university in 1972.
UPLB
is recognized worldwide for its high educational standards and its commitment
to academic excellence. It maintains linkage with 30 other universities and
agencies from Australia, Canada, China, Finland, Indonesia, Japan, Korea,
Nepal, New Zealand, Switzerland, Thailand, Uganda, United States, and Vietnam.
Research
activities in UPLB are geared towards sustainable productivity and efficient
resources utilization premised on ecological balance, optimal rural and urban
development, appropriate technologies for processing industry, basic research
and cutting-edge technologies, indigenous knowledge systems, and Philippine
culture. The university's extension function complements not only its
instruction and research programs, but also supports the extension functions of
government and non-government agencies, particularly those related to agricultural
and rural development.
Elvira
Fernandez (B.Sc., M.Sc. Ph.D.) of the Department of Forest Products and Paper
Science is UPLB's lead scientist assigned to the Bamboo Thematic Network
project. Dr. Fernandez has thirty years of experience in non-timber forest
products and is currently the project leader of an EU project on Forest
Products Chemistry Non-Timber Forest Products.
Other members of UPLB's team for the BTN project
are Dr. Armando M. Palijon and Dr. Magadalena Y. Giron.
Armando Palijon (B.Sc., M.Sc. Ph.D.) is specialized
in silviculture, urban forestry and landscaping and has 20 years of experience
in bamboo and non-timber forest products.
Magdalena
Giron (B.Sc., M.Sc. Ph.D.) has 25 years of forestry research experience and is
the leader of the ACIAR project Wood, Non-Timber Forest Products Preservation.
Universiti
Sains Malaysia
Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) was
founded in 1969 and was first known as University of Penang. USM has undergone
a tremendous transformation in terms of physical development, providing the
necessary facilities for the steadily increasing student population which has
exceeded 17,800.
USM has, over the past six or seven years, embarked
on an ambitious programme of 'applied', 'market-driven' or 'priority-specific'
research, which now accounts for some 70% of its total research effort. Many
projects now incorporate consultancy, technology-transfer and training
elements. This has enabled the University to strengthen its industrial links,
and has given greater authenticity to its role as a contributor to the nation's
industrial competitiveness. Commercially viable discoveries have been made;
work is proceeding on promising pre-competitive technologies; successes have
been achieved in closer-to market product development; a variety of skills and
research findings have been passed on to potential beneficiaries; and some one
hundred consultancies have been undertaken annually.
The Unit of Wood, Paper and Coating Technology is a
specialized group in the School of Industrial Technology dealing with applied
research on aspects of processing and properties of wood and non-wood forest
products. The group also
participates in the INCO project Sustainable management and quality improvement
of bamboo and products.
The
leading scientist of USM for the Bamboo Thematic Network is Dr. Othman Sulaiman.
University of Wales, Bangor
The BioComposites Centre
The BioComposites Centre is a designated
Scientific Centre of Excellence, which was established in 1989 at the University of Wales,
Bangor with the
assistance of the Welsh Development Agency and industry. It is self financing and carries out
contract research on the processing of wood and plant materials. It is staffed
by an interdisciplinary team of wood, polymer and material scientists,
biologists, chemists and physicists, with many years of experience of research
into industrial utilization of wood and plant fibers, and plant polymers. All
employees work exclusively on contract research and work is carried out in
strict commercial confidence with the same level of attendance given to one-man
operations as to multi-national corporations.
The
Biocomposites Centre, which has links to the School of Agriculture and Forest
Sciences, offers instant access to University expertise and facilities, and the
fast response needed for industrial research. The Pulp and Paper activities of
the BioComposites Centre are carried out under the name of the Fibre Technology
Association.
The BioComposites Centre specializes in industrial
contract research on the processing of wood and plant materials such as:
· Processing and utilization of renewable plant materials.
· Modification of fibrous and non fibrous tissues of
plants and plant polymers to facilitate the production of novel materials.
· new markets for under-utilized plant resources and
residues as industrial feedstocks
· implementation of new technology in industry
With ten years of experience in the pilot scale production
of panel & boards, facilities for the production of MDF and particleboards
at the BioComposites Centre are wide-ranging and versatile. The ability to
produce and test panels from 100mm diameter to 1000mm square facilitates the
development of a wide range of products. All stages of the production process
can be closely monitored and varied as required, from refiner pressure and
particle size to the rate of cooling of the pressed panel. The plant is staffed by a crew of wood
scientists, fitters, mechanics and chemists. The pilot plant has full access to
the expertise offered by other sections of the BioComposites Centre. All work is carried out in strict
commercial confidence and the same level of attendance given to one-man
operations as to multi-national corporations.
The MDF pilot plant at the BioComposites Centre
consists of a continuous, pressurized refiner, a blowline connecting the
refiner to a flash drier, a former, cold pre-press and hot press. The
throughput of the refiner is between 30 and 60 kg/hr, depending on the raw
material being processed.
With this pilot plant BC performed test on MDF
board with bamboo as a subcontractor in the FAIR project “Bamboo for Europe”. MDF
testing was performed by BC for University Gent, contractor in the FAIR
project. The results of these
tests indicated that bamboo was among the best non-wood fibers for MDF.