Drying and Impregnation of Wood with Propiconazole Using Supercritical Carbon Dioxide

Abstract

The process of wood drying is studied in supercritical (SC) CO₂ and SC-CO₂ containing 5 vol % ethanol at temperatures of 323, 343, and 353 K and pressures of 10, 20, and 30 MPa. It is established that 40–87% of moisture is removed from wood in the first cycle of drying. An increase in the duration of the decompression stage of the drying process decreases the number of cracks in the wood samples. The solubility of propiconazole is studied in SC-CO₂ at 323, 343, and 353 K in the pressure range of 10–30 MPa using a dynamic method. Rather high saturation concentrations of (3–5) × 10^–3 mol/mol CO₂ are obtained, which indicates the potential benefits of using SC-CO₂ as a solvent in wood impregnation with propiconazole. Continuous impregnation is achieved when impregnating wood with propiconazole from SC-CO₂. The impregnation efficiency increases with increasing pressure and duration of the process.