Environmentally friendly wood preservatives formulated with enzymatic-hydrolyzed okara, copper and/or boron salts

Novel biocides, such as copper azole (CuAz) and ammoniacal copper quaternary (ACQ), are extensively used as substitutes for chromate copper arsenate (CCA) in wood preservation. However, the expense of these biocides has necessitated the development of cost-effective and environmentally friendly wood preservatives. This study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness against decaying fungi of the preservatives formulated with enzymatic-hydrolyzed okara (OK), which is an organic waste produced from the manufacture of tofu, CuCl2 (CC) and/or Na2B4O7·10H2O (B). With the addition of NH4OH as a dissociating agent, the addition of OK facilitated the target retention of most of the OK/CC and OK/CC/B preservative formulations in wood blocks. The OK-based wood preservatives (OK-WPs) were stable against hot-water leaching. When compared with control and CC-treated wood blocks, the leached wood blocks treated with OK/CC and OK/CC/B formulations showed excellent decay resistance against both Postia placenta and Gloeophyllum trabeum, especially when OK was hydrolyzed by Celluclast at a loading level of 0.1 ml/g. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and SEM-energy dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDX) spectrometry analyses demonstrated that preservative complexes, such as OK–CC and OK–CC–B, existed in the wood blocks treated with OK/CC and OK/CC/B formulations. This study results support the potential application of OK-WPs as environmentally friendly wood preservatives capable of replacing CuAz and ACQ.