Sustainable Valorization of Forestry Byproducts

Dear Colleagues,

The forest is one of the most important treasures of our planet; it has been and continues to be one of the primary sources of resources for all its inhabitants. The forest is one of the pillars of the sustainability of this world, and it is the duty of all of us to take care of it and use its resources responsibly.

Nowadays, forestry and the wood processing industry produce a large number of by-products, the most important of which are bark, sawdust, wood chips, leaves, and branches. Most of these by-products are landfilled, burned, or used for low-value applications.

However, all these by-products are lignocellulosic materials that, from a biorefinery perspective, could be used to obtain products with numerous industrial applications and have been used in leather tanning, as adhesives in the production of wood-based products and corrugated board, in wood panels and surface coatings, in fire retardant and insulating foams, as metal corrosion protectants, as antioxidant additives and organoleptic modifiers in beverages (wine, beer, fruit juices), in food and animal feed, as nutraceuticals and functional foods, as functional additives with applications in the active food packaging industry, and as dyes in the textile industry among others.

The viability and sustainability of the forest industry must be based on the implementation of circular economy processes that include the valorization of all by-products generated in the process, together with responsible forest management.

This Special Issue of Forests aims to collect recent results from field experimental observations and laboratory studies at various sites around the world, as well as related meta-analysis and modeling studies, which would improve the valorization of forestry byproducts.

We invite submissions for a Special Issue of Forests on the subject of “Sustainable Valorization of Forestry Byproducts”. Topics for submissions may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Preservation of wood;
• UV/VIS protection of wood;
• Antifungal treatment of wood;
• Paints, coatings, and pigments from or for wood;
• Modification of forest lignocellulosic forest by-products;
• Wood extractives and biopolymers;
• Non-timber wood applications;
• Forest biorefinery;
• Fibers from wood and wood by-products;
• Wood decay resistance;
• Dimensional stability of wood;
• Heat treatment of wood.

Dr. Jorge Santos
Dr. Danilo Escobar-Avello
Guest Editors

Dr. Cecilia Fuentealba
Dr. Raquel Fernandes
Co-Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.