Acetylated wood
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Accoya® is the brand name of a treated wood created via the acetylation wood modification process, using acetic anhydride, of Accsys Technologies PLC.
Accoya® wood is manufactured via a non-toxic treatment and uses fast-growing softwood timber from sustainable sources. The treated wood has very high durability and dimensional stability allowing for reduced maintenance and is a viable alternative even to high-energy man-made materials."[1]
Attributes
Accoya® wood gives environmental advantages over slow-growing hardwoods, woods treated with toxic chemicals, and non-renewable carbon-intensive materials such as plastics, metals and concrete.
Accoya wood is FSC and PEFC and Cradle to Cradle design certified.[2]
Accoya wood has a durability classification of 1 (EN350-2. Classification Tests: EN113, EN252, ENV807).[3] The New Zealand Forest Research Institute performed durability testing of Accoya and concluded; "Radiata pine sapwood, declared as Accoya produced by the Accsys Technologies process was exposed in accelerated decay chambers and in exterior ground contact tests. After six years, the Accoya wood had some discolouration but only occasional minor decay. It was in better condition than the heartwood of four naturally durable species and radiata pine treated with CCA to the H3.2 and H4 specifications".[4]
Public presentation
In May 2008 Accoya wood was featured on a live version of the Channel 4 program Grand Designs presented by British designer, Kevin McCloud. The challenge was to build a sustainable house in just one week, using traditional techniques and materials in conjunction with modern technology. Once completed, the house was dismantled to be re-erected for display at the Building Research Establishment (BRE) Innovation Park in Watford.
It has been used in the building of road bridges, the largest of which opened in the Netherlands in autumn 2008 to support two lanes of traffic across a 30 metre span, which has a design life of 80 years.[5]
It has been tried and tested around the world leading to projects including Moses Bridge in the Netherlands,[6] RIBA award winning Haven Project in the UK,[7] and The OVO in Istanbul.[8]
Accoya wood is inspected by notified certification body, SKH (Netherlands), within the KOMO guidelines for modified wood, in accordance with assessment directive BRL 0605.
References
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