Engineering
Wood Materials & Engineering Laboratory
The Wood Materials & Engineering Laboratory (WMEL) is a partnership among the College of Engineering and Architecture, WSU Extension, and the Agricultural Research Center.
- The WMEL develops and applies new techniques to add value to wood fiber by using it in wood-plastic composite products and a host of other composite materials. These composites hold great promise in adding value to bio-products and small diameter logs leading to increased profitability within the wood products sector. This will help retain critical industries in rural communities throughout Washington and create and sustain living wage jobs. For example, wood shavings (valued at $20/ton) and wood chips (valued at $90-100/ton) can be converted into wood-plastic composite products valued at about $1,200 per ton.
- Innovation at the Wood Materials & Engineering Laboratory has resulted in more than 30 patents.
- Approximately 40 percent of the wood-plastic composites sold in the $1 billion North American market use formulations developed by the WMEL.
- A company formed by WMEL faculty produces equipment that is used to grade over two billion board feet of lumber annually.
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