Dr. Todd Shupe (PI) is Professor and Director of the Wood Durability Laboratory, Louisiana Forest Products Development Center, School of Renewable Natural Resources at the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center in Baton Rouge, La. The laboratory is world recognized as a leading research and testing laboratory and is ISO/IEC Standard 17025:2005 accredited. Dr. Richard Vlosky (co-PI) is Director of the Louisiana Forest Products Development Center and Crosby Land and Resources Endowed Professor in Forest Sector Business Development at the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center in Baton Rouge. Dr. James Richardson (co-PI) is John Rhea Alumni Professor of Economics and Director of the Public Administration Institute in the E. J. Ourso College of Business Administration at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Dr. Richardson has also served as Chairman of the Department of Economics, Acting Dean of the College of Business Administration, and Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at Louisiana State University.

The wood-preservation industry is a $4.5 billion industry in the U.S.. For all species, a total of 8.2 billion board feet of lumber and 59.4 million cubic feet of logs are estimated to have been treated with waterborne preservatives in 2007. In Louisiana, the forest product industry ranks as one of the top manufacturing industries, employing almost 30,000 workers, second to petro-chemicals, with an annual payroll of over one billion dollars and contributes over $4.9 billion annually to the state’s economy. Southern pine is the dominant species for treated wood and nearly half of all southern pine lumber is preservative treated. It is important for Louisiana non-industrial forest landowners that Louisiana maintains a viable wood preservation industry so the landowners can obtain maximum value for their timber.

The main goal of this multi-institutional research is to determine the suitability of spent CCA-treated wood as a source for (1) recycled, “green” CCA and (2) raw bio-polyols, obtained via continuous microwave liquefaction, in the fabrication of “green” spray-foam insulation. Specific objectives are to (1) determine the technical efficacy, (2) economic feasibility and (3) market structures of an innovative patented processes at the pilot-scale level. This is unique research that is aimed at the development of a closed-loop spent CCA-treated wood pole recycling process with no discharge of solid waste into the waste stream. The technology has been covered in two US patents awarded to Dr. Shupe.

Crab bait is big business: According to Dr. Lively, over 40 million pounds of blue crab are harvested annually in Louisiana, and the most common bait is East Coast caught Atlantic menhaden shipped frozen to the Gulf of Mexico. This is costly and becoming prohibitive as the fish is overfished. Dr. Lively's lab has developed a new bait using waste from the seafood industry in Louisiana, which is under a provisional patent. The goal of her project is to take the feasibility test results from academia and produce a product available for use in the commercial industry. The objectives of this project will be to 1) improve storage techniques for optimal mass production, and 2) evaluate the bait in the black drum fishery. This new bait would be applicable for bait markets across the Gulf of Mexico and the East Coast.