Purpose of Review

Wood can be protected from biological deterioration thereby prolonging its longevity and contribution to carbon sequestration. Wood protection is only useful if it is inexpensive and can be done at scale, and with minimal adverse environmental impacts. It is difficult to meet all these criteria but some approaches come close. They are described in this paper with an emphasis on new research findings and directions to inform current research on carbon sequestration by wood.

Recent Findings

Research on wood protection with the exception of nano-wood preservatives is gradually shifting away from the use of synthetic biocidal chemical treatments to the use of naturally durable wood or protectants and treatments that deny organisms access to wood (barriers) or restrict essential requirements for their growth. The latter approach is attracting attention, and welcome new entrants to the field of wood protection, because of its potential to enhance carbon sequestration at a meaningful scale.

Summary

We expect increasing regulatory and cost pressure on traditional approaches to wood protection using synthetic biocides and an acceleration of the trend evident in the recent past of protecting wood by modifying its molecular structure to exclude water, or growing trees in plantations that produce naturally durable wood. The strengthening of this trend will create many opportunities to research the properties and applications of ‘new’ durable wood products. In addition, we predict a major reorientation of the field to develop, test and model novel approaches to wood protection for atmospheric carbon sequestration. We conclude that future work will likely include research on protection of: (1) novel cellulose or lignin composites used as replacements for plastic; (2) massive timber composites used in tall buildings and other large infrastructure; (3) huge quantities of low-quality wood used specifically for carbon containment.

中文翻译：

---

碳封存的木材保护——现有方法和未来方向的回顾

审查目的

可以保护木材免受生物变质，从而延长其寿命并有助于碳封存。木材保护只有在价格低廉、可以大规模实施且对环境的不利影响最小的情况下才有用。很难满足所有这些标准，但有些方法很接近。本文对它们进行了描述，重点是新的研究成果和方向，为当前关于木材固碳的研究提供信息。

最近的发现

除纳米木材防腐剂外的木材保护研究正逐渐从使用合成杀生物化学处理转向使用天然耐用的木材或保护剂以及阻止生物接触木材（屏障）或限制其基本要求的处理生长。后一种方法引起了人们的关注，并欢迎新进入木材保护领域的人，因为它有可能以有意义的规模增强碳封存。

概括

我们预计，使用合成生物杀灭剂的传统木材保护方法的监管和成本压力将增加，并且通过改变其分子结构以排除水或在生产天然耐用木材的种植园中种植树木来保护木材的近期趋势将加速。这一趋势的加强将为研究“新型”耐用木制品的特性和应用创造许多机会。此外，我们预测该领域将发生重大调整，以开发、测试和模拟用于大气碳封存的木材保护新方法。我们得出结论，未来的工作可能包括以下方面的研究：（1）用作塑料替代品的新型纤维素或木质素复合材料；(2) 用于高层建筑和其他大型基础设施的大量木材复合材料；