Life cycle assessment (LCA) has been an important issue in the development of a circular economy. LCA is used to identify environmental impacts and hotspots associated with plywood manufacturing. Based on our results and a literature review of LCA studies involving plywood, a sustainable and environmentally friendly scenario was proposed for the plywood processing industry to improve environmental performance and sustainability. This study covers the life cycle of plywood production from a cradle-to-gate perspective, including raw material preparation and plywood manufacturing and processing to analysis of environment impacts and hotspots. Analysis of abiotic depletion (ADP), acidification effect (AP), primary energy depletion (PED), freshwater eutrophication (EP), global warming potential (GWP), and particulate matter (RI) were selected as major impact categories in this study. All data were obtained from on-site measurements (plywood production) and investigations of the Eco-invent database and CLCD database (upstream data of materials and energy). These data can be ignored when environmental contributions comprise less than 0.001% of environmental impact and auxiliary material quality is less than 0.01% of total raw material consumption. An eco-design strategy with eco-alternatives was proposed: pyrolysis bio-oil can be used to produce green resin to replace traditional phenolic formaldehyde (PF) resin to decrease the impacts of GWP, PED, AP, PM, and especially ADP and EP. A new technology of gluing green wood was used to replace conventional plywood production technology; wood waste could undergo a gasification process to produce resultant gas rather than combusting. Plywood was also compared with other wood-based panels in China to identify additional scenarios to improve environmental sustainability.

Adaptive highly efficient mulching technologies for use on dryland agricultural ecosystems are crucial to improving crop productivity and water-use efficiency (WUE) under climate change. Little information is available on the effect of using different types of mulch on soil water thermal conditions, or on root/shoot trait, leaf area index (LAI), leaf area duration (LAD), yield, and WUE of spring maize. Hence, in this study, white transparent plastic film (WF), black plastic film (BF), and maize straw (MS) was used, and the results were compared with a non-mulched control (CK). The results showed that the mean soil temperature throughout the whole growth period of maize at the 5–15 cm depth under WF and BF was higher than under MS and CK, but under BF, it was 0.6 °C lower than WF. Compared with CK, the average soil water storage (0–200 cm) over the whole growth period of maize was significantly increased under WF, BF, and MS. WF and BF increased the soil water and temperature during the early growth stages of maize and significantly increased root/shoot biomass, root volume, LAI, LAD, and yield compared with MS. Higher soil temperatures under WF obviously reduced the duration of maize reproductive growth and accelerated root and leaf senescence, leading to small root/shoot biomass accumulation post-tasseling and to losses in yield compared with BF

The effects of CH₃COOH and Na₂SO₃ pretreatment on the structural properties and hydrolyzability of fast-growing Paulownia elongate were investigated. Acetic acid increased cellulose’s crystallinity and hydrolyzability when combined with alkaline sodium sulfite and sodium hydroxide. The cellulose content increased by 21%, the lignin content decreased by 6%, and the product showed better enzymatic digestibility. With a cellulase dose of 30 FPU/g DM, after 72 h hydrolysis, the hydrolysis yields of glucose and xylose were 78% and 83%, respectively, which were 51% and 69% higher than those of untreated materials. When the enzyme dosage was 20 FPU/g DM, after 72 h hydrolysis, the hydrolysis yields of glucose and xylose were 74% and 79%, respectively. The high hydrolyzability, low enzyme loading, and high hydrolysis yield demonstrate the potential of the proposed system for producing platform sugars from fast-growing Paulownia elongate.

The implementation of circular economy in wood industries is an effective way for future sustainable development. The wood industries in China are not in the direction of circular economy approach due to less availability of assessment/calculation data of pollutants as per life cycle assessment (LCA) criteria. The present study focuses on the calculation of emission and pollutants from wood industries as per LCA; the emission and pollution data were collected from fiberboard Medium-density fiberboard (MDF), plywood and particleboard (PB) production. The comparative analysis of dust emissions, industrial waste gases and chemical oxygen demand (COD) were performed among three wood industries. The results revealed that the fiberboard industry was the highest emitter of dust, industrial waste gas and COD; and particleboard industry was the least emitter. Further, results indicated that pollutant index of wood industries were significantly changed between 2015 and 2017; the industrial waste water discharge increased five folds and the COD, dust and industrial gases increased two times. This study provides with the emission and pollutants data of wood industries as per LCA to promote the sustainable development for circular and low carbon economics.