Description of the contract
Coed Cymru has secured an extension to its project entitled ‘Improving the Supply Chain for Low Value Welsh Timber’ under the Rural Development Plan for Wales Supply Chain Efficiencies Scheme. Part of this project involves working with timber producers and processing businesses in Wales to add value to low grade Welsh timber using heat treatment processes. This improves the appearance and physical properties of timber and utilises kilning / oven technologies readily available.
An opportunity has arisen for a suitably qualified contractor to undertake a discrete piece of work to determine an optimal program for the heat treatment of Welsh larch timber at low temperatures (up to 150 deg C) to cure/harden resins. The programs will need to be used by existing project partners and be replicable across the timber sector.
We envisage that the work would need to encompass the following tasks:
- Literature review on Larch treatments
- Resin Analysis
- Laboratory trials and analysis to provide programs
- Support and monitor the upscale of proven trial in our 1m3 testing oven, analysis and provide adjustments if necessary.
- Monitor upscale of proven process in commercial scale ovens available to the project, analysis and provide adjustment if necessary.
Along with the programs we would require the following information:
- an explanation of why the improved properties in low temperature Heat Treatment occur
- at what point in the process of treatment the changes occur
- a straightforward method that can be used to determine whether the changes have occurred
We are seeking quotations for this work.
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