Theses and Dissertations

ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6051-5335

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Stokes, C. Elizabeth

Committee Member

Shmulsky, Rubin

Committee Member

Khademibami, Laya

Committee Member

Boyd-Shields, Gwendolyn

Date of Degree

12-13-2024

Original embargo terms

Worldwide

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

Major

Forest Resources (Sustainable Bioproducts)

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Forest Resources

Department

Department of Sustainable Bioproducts

Abstract

Wood products are subject to deterioration by numerous processes, as a biological material. Today, a significant area of preservative development is the utilization of existing plant residues that have water-repelling, antibacterial, antifungal, and insecticidal properties as components of wood protectants. Parthenium argentatum, known as guayule (wy-oo-lee), is a promising wood protectant due to its resin. However, the resin's complicated chemical, physical, and solvent-resistant properties make it difficult to use. The primary goal of this study was to eliminate the use of any solvent and rely on thermal modification only to fractionate usable compounds from guayule resin. Utilizing heated dialysis and steam distillation methods, small volume fractions of resin were recovered as water-borne components. These fractions were subjected to both Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Gas Chromatography with Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) to determine their chemical composition. Both recovery and analysis approaches detected, sorted, and compared hundreds of chemicals. These findings were compared to earlier research to identify termiticidal and wood-protectant possibilities. The compounds that were identified of the highest interest were diethyl phthalate (DEP), β-caryophyllene (BEP), cumanin, β-guaiene, ingenol, 10-epi-γ-eudesmol, and various naphthalene derivatives. The difficulty arises in the volume of resin that needs to be converted to steam-distilled fractions to recover a fraction volume substantial enough to treat large quantities of wood products. This study also compared oil and resin blends to untreated control samples for termite protection to 50-70% cross-sectional area deterioration, control samples lost 40.59% to 47.37% weight. However, Hemp Seed Oil/Guayule Resin Blend treated wood had no termite damage and minor weight loss (2.87% to 4.76%), indicating good protection. Soybean Oil/Guayule Resin Blend worked well with even better weight loss (7.28% to 9.30%). The Petroleum Diesel/Guayule Resin Blend offered moderate protection with a 19.81% to 26.01% weight decrease. Hemp seed oil is more termite-resistant than petroleum-based treatments, making it an eco-friendly wood preservation option, according to this study. This study details the processes and analyses applied to guayule resin to recover a quantifiable thermally modified fraction for component determination.

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