Technical expertise on wood

Last update: 2 June 2023

CIRAD, through its BioWooEB (Biomass, Wood, Energy, Bioproducts) Research Unit, is an expert in tropical and Mediterranean timber. In France and in the producing countries, it provides support for the timber sector: forest operators and planners, primary and secondary processing companies (small-scale units, SMEs, industries), project managers, contractors, architects, monitoring offices, consultancy firms, etc.

Last update: 2 June 2023

  • Assistance for wood processing and applications

    Amarante - Platelage bridge over "Conté" river in French Guiana (© M. Vernay)
    Technical assistance and support related to wood processing and applications are provided to projects owners, project contractors and developers, architects, study and development offices, monitoring and project control offices, and building companies.

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  • Technological characterization of wood

    Sample compression (© P. Langbour)
    Study on the technological characteristics of wood species from natural forests, plantations or agroforestry stands in order to define their potential applications.

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  • Consulting in timber trade and forest industry economics

    Wood supply, local trade, Malaysia (© J.M. Roda)
    Consulting for all situations related to timber supply and procurement organisation, and to marketing and competitiveness of tropical forest products.

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  • Natural durability of wood and wood-based material and efficiency of protection systems

    Termite resistance test, Wood Preservation Laboratory (© Cirad, auteur N. Leménager)
    Tests and expert appraisals in all fields relating to the durability and protection of wood and wood-based materials, anti-termite protection systems (barriers), and associated aging.

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  • Identification of biological damage on wood

    Attack from Nasutitermes termites © Cirad
    On-site interventions or directly on samples in laboratory, to identify the origin and to assess the extent of damage due to biological degradation agents (insects, fungi or marine borers depending on the exposure of the structures) and propose appropriate preventive or curative solutions.

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  • Wood identification of tropical and temperate species

    BioWooEB's wood collection: samples used for identification (© S. Paradis)
    Identification of a wood sample is to determine the botanical genus and sometimes the corresponding species, in response to the demand for carpenters, cabinetmakers, technical-commercial, legal experts, antique, archaeologists, etc.

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  • Databases and knowledge on tropical wood species

    Legacy data files of qualification tests (© D. Louppe)
    In order to meet the development needs of tropical countries for fuel wood / round wood / timber supplies, protect natural forests and limit harvesting pressure on their natural resources, it is necessary to make better use of forest product diversity and of wood resources. Constructing a reliable and interactive database including the basic properties of these products is key to the success of such an operation.

    One of the first aims of this database is to analyse relationships between wood properties and uses of tropical timbers, in order to optimize the exploitation of tropical forest resources. These data constitute a reference tool for all research conducted on tropical timber.

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  • The xylotheque: over 8,000 species referenced

    Xylotheque 80 yeras logo
    Called « xylotheque » (from the Greek xulon which means "wood"), the CIRAD’s collection of tropical and temperate wood samples is one of the largest in the world. Most of these samples are related to herbaria deposited in various botanical institutes all around the world.

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