Transparent wood

[Reed Gray]

My son just found this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8cRJjfznEM

robo hippy

[Jamie Straw]

My son just found this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8cRJjfznEM

robo hippy

Yep, I first read about it here: http://www.sci-news.com/othersciences/chemistry/optically-transparent-wood-03746.html

[Mark Greenbaum]

Wow, then you could stain it to look like wood. :-)

[Art Mann]

It looks to me like scientists have found yet another odd way to turn epoxy into a clear sheet. I'm pretty sure the product in this video bears no resemblance to wood, either in appearance or physical properties. Why go to all that trouble and expense with wood when you can use woven fiberglass to do the same thing?

[Allan Speers]

So what do they do with all that left-over lignin?

[Paul Gilbert]

So what do they do with all that left-over lignin?
You can purify it and use it for all sorts of things. Back in the dark ages we used it as a sludge conditioner for boiler water. Google Maracell.

In Paper Mills, the solution left over from the pulping process goes to a "Black Liquor" evaporator and then is burned as fuel in a "Black Liquor Boiler". This leaves Caustic Soda (sodium hydroxide, lye) and other salts as a residue which are then recycled.