Methodology to evaluate efficacy and ecotoxicology of modified wood

Modified wood can be seen as a new product group for which new evaluation criteria are needed. This paper wants to elaborate on methodology combining ecotoxicology of modified wood using leachates and decay resistance of the treated wood. Leaching procedures based on European standards EN 84 and OECD part 1 were performed prior to fungal testing according to the natural durability approach. This combination proved to be suitable for evaluation of both furfurylated or heat treated wood. It allowed concluding that next to wood species also the overall and exact process parameters influence the efficacy and ecotoxicology of the final modified product