Students eager to know about wood without trees

PHAGWARA: Can wood be made without tree really? This was the question being asked from almost every student who visited the stall of the Central Building Research Institute (CBRl), Roorkee, which displayed the sample of wood made using natural fiber derived from agricultural waste such as husk and straws in combination with recycled plastics during an expo of the Indian Science Congress at the LPU here today.

Wood without tree

Avneet Kaur

Phagwara, January 6

Can wood be made without tree really? This was the question being asked from almost every student who visited the stall of the Central Building Research Institute (CBRl), Roorkee, which displayed the sample of wood made using natural fiber derived from agricultural waste such as husk and straws in combination with recycled plastics during an expo of the Indian Science Congress at the LPU here today.

Students showed keen interest in knowing the technology behind this invention and asked various questions related to the availability of such wood in the market.

Talking to The Tribune, Amit Prakash of the CBRI said: “Our technology for wood without trees is a step towards saving forests. Natural wood is replaced by manufacturing rice husk plastic wood, which can be shaped by conventional wood working tools.”

Companies had manufactured door/window frames using this technology, developed by the CSIR-CBRI. The material has wood like surface appearance, having features of replacement to natural wood, meeting requirements of the National Building Code, he said.

He said the best part of this wood was that it utilises agricultural wastes and save millions of trees which were cut for furniture. It has more strength and resistant to insects such as termites compared to natural wood, adding that the wood was also moisture resistant, as it gains just 2-3 per cent weight after it was immersed in water for three months and it is also carpenter-friendly.

Another major attraction for students was the Clay Fly Ash Bricks which uses flyash, water and medium plastic soil as raw materials for casting the bricks useful for masonry construction.

Amit Prakash said: “The clay fly ash brick weigh less than the red brick that is mostly used for construction. Even the fly ash brick is cheaper.”

The students at the stall enjoyed learning about the environment-friendly bricks and wood, they said for the love of Mother Nature, one should make use of such bricks, woods for construction and wooden work at home to protect hundreds of trees cutting down daily.