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International audience; Pour l'industrie du sciage, l'automatisation des processus décisionnels passe par le maintien d'un inventaire géolocalisé de la cour à bois. Cela constitue un défi technique considérable, notamment parce qu'il s'agit d'un environnement extérieur hostile à la merci des intempéries et où il n'existe pas d'emplacement prédéfini d'entreposage des produits. Nous avons donc entrepris la création d'un jumeau numérique permettant de maintenir en temps réel l'inventaire géolocalisé (x,y,z) d'une cour à bois, malgré le fait que les signaux émanant du monde réel (ex. : coordonnées GPS de la chargeuse) soient bruités. Nous proposons des algorithmes permettant de maintenir le modèle à jour en temps réel. Des expérimentations sont réalisées à partir de données industrielles afin d'identifier le niveau maximal d'incertitude sur les coordonnées GPS tolérable. Les résultats montrent qu'avec nos algorithmes, il serait possible de maintenir l'inventaire à jour en faisant usage de technologies de localisation existante et en adoptant des pratiques d'affaires légèrement modifiées.

Heat treatment is an eco-friendly and efficient way to improve the defective properties of woods, such as hygroscopic nature, lack of dimensional stability, and low resistance against biological degradation, and to produce a green and sustainable wood material for construction and buildings. The aim of this study is to investigate the thermal degradation of a hardwood (poplar, Populus nigra) and a softwood (fir, Abies pectinata) in a semi-industrial scale reactor in which a vacuum environment is adopted to intensify the thermal degradation process. Four different stages of thermal degradation during wood heat treatment are defined, based on the intensity of differential mass loss (DML). Meanwhile, a number of analyses on untreated and treated woods are performed to evaluate their thermal degradation characteristics and compositional change during treatment. The FTIR analysis clearly demonstrates the thermal degradation through dehydration, deacetylation, depolymerization, and condensation reactions during the heat treatment. In addition, the XRD analysis indicates an increase in relative crystallinity of cellulose. The correlation of devolatilization index (DI) with respect to mass loss of the two wood species is strongly characterized by linear distribution, which is able to provide a simple and useful tool in predicting mass loss of wood treated in wood industry. (Resume d'auteur)

International audience; Une présentation des opportunités et défis offerts par l'industrie du futur, et une projection sur l'ensemble de la filière bois des vecteurs de progrès potentiels.

In the Congo Basin, up to one-third of the total wood market is sourced from traditional (or artisanal) woodcutting, with these products primarily destined for domestic markets. Due to the informal nature of much of the domestic value-added wood product market, the sector's real contribution to GDP and to local livelihoods is challenging to measure. However, urban timber markets contribute to economic growth and provide jobs, with an annual turnover of at least USD 15 million and employment of some 5,000 individuals in Yaoundé, Douala, and Kinshasa alone. Boosting the share of locally-processed wood used in domestic construction and furniture-making could represent a significant business opportunity for small, medium and large-sized enterprises in wood fiberbased value chains: smallholders, community forest holders, forest concessionaires, as well as SMEs and larger companies involved in transportation logistics, wood processing industries (large or small), wood workers, builders, and even designers, with the right policy incentives and enabling environment. Domestic processing capacities are low, almost entirely limited to primary processing: sawnwood, peeling and slicing for plywood, and veneer production. Industrial and semi-industrial wood transformation enterprises are well equipped, but have difficulties competing on the domestic market as they are subject to higher taxes than smaller enterprises, operating informally. This report aim to improve knowledge and prioritize options for policies and targeted investments for improved domestic timber utilization in Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The report builds on prior knowledge to better understand the solutions needed to overcome barriers to expanding the market for legal (and possibly sustainable) timber and processed wood products used in the domestic furniture and construction markets in the two countries.