Advances in Wood-Based Composites from Alternative Lignocellulosic Raw Materials

Dear Colleagues,

Increased environmental consciousness, enhanced interest towards the application of sustainable production technologies, the increased shortage of natural resources, and recent strict environmental regulations have forced many manufacturing industries to search for new eco-friendly materials from renewable resources, in order to substitute conventional materials in a number of end uses. This growing need for ‘green’ materials and sustainable products has also led to the increased production and utilization of eco-friendly wood-based composites worldwide. According to the latest forecast data by the Food and Agriculture Organization, the overall demand and consumption of wood and wood-based materials by 2050 is projected to increase by 37% compared to 2020. The contemporary principles of the circular economy have imposed new, stricter requirements on all aspects of product design and development, including the production of wood-based composites. The new legislative requirements in the field of waste management have increased the demands for new, innovative, eco-friendly materials and products. In this respect, the “cascading” use of wood, optimization of production technologies, and recycling and secondary utilization of waste and by-products are important issues related to the economic profitability and sustainable development of woodworking and furniture industries, in line with the principles of the circular bioeconomy.

This Special Issue, “Advances in Wood-Based Composites from Alternative Lignocellulosic Raw Materials”, is aimed at collecting high-quality original research and review articles on topics including (but not limited to) the latest approaches in wood waste and by-product utilization; the development of wood waste-based composites; advanced recycling of post-consumer solid wood and wood-based composites; the cascading use of wood; life cycle assessments of wood composites; wood–polymer composites; the valorization of wood bark for value-added chemicals and the production of high-performance wood composites; biodegradable, eco-friendly wood-waste-based composites; the application of nanomaterials to wood composites; non-wood lignocellulosic composites; and advanced functionalities and application of wood-waste-based composites.

We strongly encourage contributions from researchers and experts from all related fields in the form of original research works or review articles.

Prof. Dr. Petar Antov
Guest Editor

Dr. Valentina Lo Giudice
Guest Editor Assistant

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-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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.