DOI: 10.15376/biores.14.2.3069-3091
Abstract: Changes were evaluated in cell wall components, hygroscopicity, and thermodynamic properties of Pinus sylvestris L. wood that had been in contact with salt (NaCl) for 300 years in a former saltworks storehouse in Gerri de la Sal (Lérida, Spain), comparing it with recently felled wood (new wood) of the same species. The wood in contact with salt (salt-covered wood) had higher equilibrium moisture content values except in the first interval of the adsorption isotherm, probably because of mechanical blocking of polar sites by salt crystals. The high fibre saturation point values of this wood are caused by the salt dissolved in water above water activity of about 0.75. More energy is invested in the desorption process, and the values are higher in the salt-covered wood.
