Fungal degradation of wood under precisely controlled internal and external moisture conditions

Wood is an increasingly important material in the construction sector, but the use of wood in moist environments is hampered by its susceptibility to fungal decomposition. Water is essential for fungal degradation of wood, but the exact mechanisms are not yet understood.

The purpose of this project is to provide a fundamental understanding of how amount, location and state of water affects the degradability of wood. This will be done by precise control of both internal and external moisture conditions.

Targeted wood modification will be used to control wood-water interactions in different locations in the wood structure and fungal degradation of these materials will be studied in custom-built degradation chambers based on the pressure plate technique. This enables precise control of humidity/water potential at the high humidity levels required for fungal growth.

In combination with meticulous characterisation of wood-water interactions in non-degraded as well as degraded material, this will provide a detailed view of the role of water in fungal degradation of wood.

The project will therefore push the frontier of the research field and advance the understanding of the crucial role of water in fungal degradation of wood.

The project will be performed at Lund University in collaboration with the University of Copenhagen and the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, combining world-class expertise in wood material science and mycology.