Love or loathe them: screens have become essential to our lives.

According to the Pew Research Center and Statista, approximately:

• 97% of Americans own a cell phone
• 85% own a SmartPhone
• 50% own a tablet
• 74% own a home computer 
• And 122.4 million own televisions. 

But did you ever stop to think about what goes into your SmartPhone, television, computer or tablet?

If you have researched this topic, you know it’s a bit of a downer. 

The hard truth is, device components often require non-renewable materials and, with so much plastic incorporated, they aren’t exactly biodegradable.

However, there is a potential bright side in the use of trees—specifically tree fiber known as nanocellulose—in screen technologies.

To learn more, we talked to a research material engineer for the USDA’s Forest Service, Ron Sabo, Ph.D., about nanocellulose in tech, how it’s used in screens and other technology, and why it may offer a more sustainable choice for the future of tech.

What Is Nanocellulose?

You may have heard of cellulose, the natural fiber found in wood (and all plants) used in various applications including: 

• As an FDA-approved anti-caking and thickening agent in foods
• A binder, coating, filler, or slow-release agent in medicines 
• And in the production of paper goods

Nanocellulose is a smaller, more refined version of cellulose.

Dr. Sabo explains, “Nanocellulose is a wood fiber that’s made smaller either through chemistry or mechanical grinding. It’s so small you can’t see it. One of the first uses of nano-type cellulose was as an anti-caking agent in cheese, ice cream, and [medicine] tablets.”

So, what does teeny tiny wood pulp fiber have to do with screens and tech? Dr. Sabo explains:

“If you pour it [nanocellulose] into a dish and dry it, it creates a transparent and flexible film. It’s almost like plastic in some ways, but from trees. We’ve studied it for about 20 years and have learned a lot about its properties.”

Dr. Sabo continues, “To put it simply, it’s just another wood fiber that’s smaller. It’s not a magic bullet, but it has some neat properties. Seeing transparent wood, that’s what got me!”

A Little History About Wood In Tech 

Nanocellulose isn’t the first component of wood to be used in technology. In fact, wood has been used in various technological devices for decades.

“Generally, wood has been used in circuit boards for a long time,” Dr. Sabo explains. “If you look at the circuit boards in computers, they are made of pulp or fiberglass and coated with metal, and that’s low-tech; it’s more for structure. So it’s not unheard of for wood to be in your computer.”

Since those early days of mega-circuit boards, researchers have been refining their understanding of how wood pulp can be used to enhance technologies. 

Nanocellulose is the brainchild of those years of study, trial and error.

Top 5 Properties That Make Nanocellulose Viable For Use In Screens And Other Technologies

Three things make nanocellulose viable for use in screens and other technological applications:

#1: Strength 

Per Dr. Sabo, “This is one of the things that really attracted people in the beginning. If you measure the crystalline version of cellulose, you’ll find that it’s stronger than steel and other particles.”

#2: Transparency

As previously mentioned, nanocellulose creates a transparent and flexible film when dried. This makes it a potentially more eco-friendly candidate than plastic for creating clear, flexible screens and other technologies.

#3: Low-thermal expansion

“We’ve learned nanocellulose has a low thermal coefficient of expansion. This means if you heat it up, it doesn’t expand—like plastic,” Dr. Sabo says. “This is what technology companies need, materials that don’t expand. And that’s a property people like.”

#4: Flexibility

Films made of nanocellulose are flexible, which, according to Sabo and other sources,  make them appealing as next-generation flexible devices.

#5: Sustainability

Since nanocellulose products can be sourced from sustainably-managed forests and are biodegradable, they offer a more sustainable material than plastic, polymer-based products.

Additionally, researchers have found more eco-friendly ways of manufacturing cellulose using algae (vs. other chemicals), which doesn’t present the same threat to the environment and waterways.

Different Types Of Nanocellulose Have Unique Applications In Tech

There are several different types of nanocellulose, each with different properties and applications. 

Two examples are nano-crystalline cellulose (CNC) and nanofibrils (CNF). 

Says Dr. Sabo: “The nano-crystalline cellulose has some other properties that the nano-fibrils don’t have. In water, they can act as liquid crystals. Dried films of CNCs can also have color attributes, which gives them the potential to be used in devices. 

“The point I’m trying to make is there are all different types of nanocellulose, so we’re still trying to figure out which materials are best for different applications.”

How Nanocellulose Is Used In Screens Today

In an unexpected interview twist, when asked if he could tell us the types of screens and devices in which nanocellulose is used, Dr. Sabo said he didn’t know.

“The last I heard, a Japanese company was supposedly able to make it work. But I don’t know if it’s on the market or not. Certain countries and companies tend to be quite secretive about these things.”

As a forestry company that interacts with various suppliers, pulp mills, wood product manufacturers, trade associations, and end-users, we know nanocellulose is used in screens. 

However, the companies who build the screens use proprietary techniques to which we’re not privy. What we do know is that all of these qualities in nanocellulose could contribute to its usefulness in screen technology.

To prove it, we did some more digging.

In a research paper entitled “Electrochromic Displays Screen Printed on Transparent Nanocellulose-Based Substrates,” the authors explain how they are using different nanocellulose-based substrates to make electronic device manufacturing more sustainable.

“Manufacturing of electronic devices via printing techniques is often considered to be an environmentally friendly approach, partially due to the efficient utilization of materials. Traditionally, printed electronic components (e.g., sensors, transistors, and displays) are relying on flexible substrates based on plastic materials; this is especially true in electronic display applications where, most of the times, a transparent carrier is required in order to enable presentation of the display content. 

“However, plastic-based substrates are often ruled out in end-user scenarios striving toward sustainability. Paper substrates based on ordinary cellulose fibers can potentially replace plastic substrates, but the opaqueness limits the range of applications where they can be used.”

Dr. Sabo added there are also challenges within nanocellulose technology that must be overcome. Including its affinity for moisture, its brittleness, and the costs associated with manufacturing.

“That’s a challenge we have: how to get the properties you want and keep it sustainable.”

Closing Thoughts On The Future Of Sustainable Forestry Products In Tech

Based on our conversation with Dr. Sabo and the literature referenced here, it is clear that the science and tech communities are invested in creating more sustainable products.

And sustainable forest products are already playing a significant role in next-generation technologies.

When asked about his thoughts on the future of forest products in tech, Dr. Sabo shared this:

“I do expect that in the future, more and more materials will come from sustainable sources, including trees. The research community is making major efforts to find an economic or viable method to produce new materials from wood. 

“Just recently, I read in a paper that they’ve developed a new bioplastic extracted from wood. If we can get cheap, easily processed, biodegradable and renewable plastics, that would do a lot to alleviate some of our greenhouse gas emissions.

“I think we’ll have a lot more bio-based economy in the future. We can make basically anything out of wood. It’s just the cost. As we figure out new ways and tricks to process the tree, stuff will get a lot cheaper, leading to increased use and environmental benefits.

My hope is one day we have this circular economy where everything is used again.”

The post Trees in Screens? How Nanocellulose Is Enhancing Screen Tech Sustainability appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.

GRAYS RIVER, Washington—When it’s your job to safely remove trees off mountainsides without disturbing the soils or nearby streams, you have to be a talented problem-solver.

Every forest presents new challenges, like a recent tower logging site here in the beautiful mountains of Grays River. Until recently, there would have only been one way to unwind cable down one steep mountain and up another to set up the skyline: on foot. But a new drone has turned a multi-day job like that into a 10-minute job.

How does Tower Logging Work?

First, a quick background on the steps it takes to remove trees from a steep slope here in the Pacific Northwest:

Step 1: Cut trees in an organized layout

A logging crew cuts the trees and places them on the ground in an organized layout, which will make them easier to move. 

Step 2: Set up the tower and skyline

Loggers set up a tower connected to a cable system. The skyline cable has to stretch from the tower, across the slope the logs are on, to the top of a nearby slope. Setting this cable into place is the step where drones are involved, replacing the work of loggers who would have to spend hours if not days unwinding 100s of pounds of haywire down one slope and up the other to get the cable in place.

Step 3: Use skyline cable to move logs to sorting yard

A motorized “carriage” carries the logs up the skyline. Loggers called “choker setters” attach the logs to a chain that hangs from the carriage, securing them with an interlocking mechanism called a choker. Then the carriage lifts logs up into the air and moves them to a sorting area. 

Did you know? Logs are lifted into the air to prevent them from dragging in the soil, which could lead to erosion and deposit sediment into nearby waterways. Airlifting also prevents damage to the log.

Step 4: Prepare logs for transport to the mills

Once the logs are in the sorting area, they are prepared for transport. This could include the removal of any remaining bark and branches, cutting the logs to fit the truck they will be on, and sorting them by species and size for the various needs of the mills they will be sent to.

For a more detailed description of this process, read our article, How Tower Logging Works.

How Drones are Making it Easier to Place a Skyline Cable

In order to lift bundles of 70-foot logs with a skyline cable, you first have to put a cable into place that stretches high above the ground. To do that, loggers start by unwinding 250-foot sections of synthetic cable (called haywire) as they walk from the tower at the top of the slope the logs are on, to the top of a nearby slope or peak.

This is usually done on foot. It can be exhausting and dangerous because of the terrain. The crew often has to go up and down the mountains multiple times to get more rigging until they finally reach their destination, often thousands of feet away from the starting point.

Stuck Between a River and Two Cliffs

On a recent logging job in Grays Harbor, featured in the video above, ENB Logging owner Ed Bryant knew his team would have to do the job differently. Between the slope they were logging and the slope their cable would stretch to, there was a deep river with high cliffs on both sides.

It would take a team of several people a long time to get the haywire in place. And they would have to get creative to get it across without losing it in the river. In the old days, they might have attached the cable to an arrow and shot it across with a bow. Or they might have dropped it over one cliff and fished it out from the top of the other cliff with a fishing pole. 

But the cliffs were a safety hazard, the terrain was rough, and they would waste valuable time. Ed wasn’t going to put his team through that. It was time to call in a drone.

“It’s a good tool. If we didn’t have that option, we would’ve taken a few more days to get across,” Ed said as the drone pilot arrived.

An Unusual Drone to the Rescue

Thankfully for Ed, he’s not the first to run into this kind of challenge. Mark Standley of Banks, Oregon, spent most of his life logging. He saw many hours waste away placing haywire on dangerous terrain. Then he got into the business of creating drones to solve the problem.

Pacific UAV offers custom-made “workhorse” drones that can lift heavy weights, release items and even spout fire! While not all logging companies own the high-end drones, those that do own them can be hired to fly them for their colleagues.

Ed called C&C Logging Company. Soon, their drone pilot, Operations Manager Rex Pitullo, made his way up the mountain to help.

Rex attached the haywire to his Hector T drone using a servo attachment that releases by remote. Meanwhile, one of Ed’s team members drove to the peak of the next mountain. He then walked into the forest to find a strong tree to serve as the “tailhold” that the cable would connect to. Then he communicated with Rex by radio, guiding him to drop the cable nearby with his drone.

Using a Spotter to Guide the Drone

As the drone took off, haywire followed after it, quickly unwinding itself from a large container. Ed’s team stood alongside Rex, holding up binoculars to try to find their spotter on the ground across the slope. The man waved his orange coat, trying to help the team spot him. But with tall trees all around him, he was barely visible.

“A little to the right, a little to the right, now come in straight ahead,” the spotter said over the radio.

“I’m not the one flying the drone,” Rex said as he positioned the drone above the spotter. “My spotter guides me where I need to be.”

When the spotter could clearly see the drone within close proximity to the tailhold, Rex used the remote to command the drone to drop the haywire, trying to avoid any tree branches that could tangle with it. After a few minutes of searching, the spotter found it and secured it into place.

Rex says that’s just one of the many ways the drone is impacting forestry work. His drone can assist in firefighting, deliver bags of seedlings to planting sites, bring tools to workers whose equipment breaks down in remote areas, and countless other uses.

Celebrating a Milestone in Safety and Efficiency

With the cable line quickly in place, Ed’s team got back to work. The team pulled a stronger cable through a pulley, or spool. Finally, they pulled a strong cable through. This one would be able to support the weight of the motorized carriage and its loads of logs.

They were days ahead of where they would have been, thanks to a single drone flight.

“I’ve been doing this for 47 years, and this is pretty new to me,” marveled ENB logger Dave Johnson.

To New England Forestry’s Timber Production Forester Scott Grigg, who works with our logging contractors to come up with the safest possible harvest plans, it’s an exciting step forward in forestry safety.

“The dollar value (of using a drone) is a big deal, but the safety factor is insurmountable,” he says. “It shows just how much this industry has embraced technology to keep people safe.”

The post High Power Drones Are A Safety Game-Changer in Tower Logging appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.