ABSTRACT
M. Krause et al. showed that wood decomposition varied directly with temperature; hence tropical conditions favor greater greenhouse gases from wood decomposition. For wood products, the release of carbon is directly proportional to the decomposition of the degradable organic carbon fraction of the product. Nondestructive anthropogenic sequestering of fast-growing invasive tropical softwoods can therefore reduce the harmful effects of greenhouse gases. The chapter aims to determine the ability of leachate from fermentation of bamboo to decrease the rate of fungal degradation of tropical softwood. It shows that a long soaking period in alcoholic alkali liquor can remove nonstructural carbohydrate (NSC) from freshly harvested softwood. Similar treatment of other tropical softwoods may remove sufficient NSC fractions to increase resistance to biological decomposition. In stockpiles exposed to high relative humidity and rainfall, even woody biomass pellets lose structural integrity, often assumed to be due to the uptake of moisture from the environment.
