Résumé
This review compiles various literature studies on the environmental impacts associated with the processes of thermal modification of wood. In wood preservation field, the wood modification by heat is considered as an eco-friendly process due to the absence of any additional chemicals. However, it is challenging to find related scientific and industrial data that support this fact. There are still very few complete studies on life cycle assessment evaluating environmental impacts related to the wood heat treatment processes, on both laboratory and industrial scales. This comprehensive review takes into consideration the environmental categories such as dwindling of natural resources, cumulative energy intake as well as gaseous, solid and liquid emissions occurred by the thermal-treated wood industry. This literature review highlights that several aspects related to heat-treated wood might significantly contribute to environmental performance of heat treatment modification industrial process overall. Furthermore, the life cycle assessment proves that thermal modification processes have strong potential to produce environmental impacts of wooden materials when taking into consideration the production as well as the use and disposal at the end of the life cycle of material.