Wood chemist

Earnings (Yearly Median): $87,180 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2024)

Employment and Outlook: 6% (Faster than average)

O*NET-SOC Code: 19-2031.00

Related Career Clusters: Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources; Architecture & Construction; Education & Training

Scope of Work

Wood is a complex material composed primarily of cellulose, lignin, and many other compounds. Its intrinsic structure permits it to be used for many different purposes, ranging from structural materials to renewable sources of various chemical compounds. It is also the source of practically all paper produced in the world. Wood chemists work to determine new or improved methods of utilizing the chemical properties and components of wood to manufacture better and stronger wood-based materials, understand the chemical processes by which the various chemical components of wood are produced, determine means by which the chemical components of wood may be broken down and altered to make other chemicals, and to find ways to control the interactions of wood with other materials such as adhesives, paints, and sealants.

Education and Coursework

Entry-level positions as a wood chemist typically require a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering, industrial engineering, or pulp and paper chemistry. Some employers accept qualifications in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, or manufacturing engineering as the minimum requirements. Therefore, potential wood chemists should expect to study chemistry, physics, biology, and mathematics at the university level. Students of wood chemistry will generally take courses in organic, physical, inorganic, bio-organic, industrial, and analytical chemistry. Because wood is a plant substance, biology, and plant sciences courses are also essential. Some institutions offer specialized programs of study for both the pulp-and-paper and wood-chemistry industries. For more advanced positions involving fundamental research in the chemistry of wood and wood products, a master's degree or a PhD will be required, as in almost all other scientific fields. Research positions are grant-funded and associated with teaching and research institutions and industrial corporations.

The field of wood chemistry is broad, and it is involved in many different aspects of wood utilization. The subdisciplines of wood chemistry generally include biomass and recycling, wood types, wood products, wood chemistry and properties, wood energy, wood processing, and wood conservation and protection. Given the array of subdisciplines, it should not be surprising that institutions and organizations are devoted to wood sciences. The mandate of such organizations includes education and training opportunities for those working in wood chemistry and other wood sciences. Because of the global wood trade and the indigenous nature of wood species, many organizations have a global presence and serve an international community of wood scientists. Limited opportunities to learn about the nature and habitat of wood exist through the forestry industry, which relies extensively on knowledge of tree biology.

Career Enhancement and Training

While no specific licensing or certification is required to pursue a career as a wood chemist, it is, nonetheless, a specialized field that demands particular training. The chemical components of wood and the physical properties of timber derived from those chemical components are complex and quite unlike the sorts of materials chemists in other fields typically work with. Accordingly, the methodologies and technologies used by wood chemists are also quite different. Professional organizations for those who work in the various wood sciences, such as the Wood Technology Society (WTS), focus solely on wood sciences. Such organizations provide a focused set of career enhancement and training resources and a central point for professional networking, which the global extent of the wood sciences field can complicate.

Wood chemists work in such a specialized field that communication and networking with other wood chemists is typically a long-distance undertaking, and opportunities for direct or onsite collaboration with colleagues in different locations are rare and tend to be costly. Participation in online forums and attendance at symposia and conferences relevant to wood chemistry is essential for building and maintaining professional relationships in this field.

Daily Tasks and Technology

The daily tasks of wood chemists depend significantly on the branch of wood sciences in which they are involved. Most wood chemists work in the pulp and paper industry, where they maintain the large-scale processing operations of their particular location. The operations range in sequence from the initial treatment of raw wood resources to the final quality-control checks of finished papers. In between are numerous stages of the production process in which chemical processes work to separate wood fibers and break them down into raw cellulose, extract and capture noncellulosic materials, and bleach and physically manipulate the fibers from the process stream. In this capacity, wood chemists must provide quality control and work toward improving the overall process.

Another primary area of work for wood chemists is in natural products research. Wood is the source of various naturally occurring chemical compounds, and a significant aspect of wood chemistry is the recovery and identification of such compounds from within raw wood. Wood chemists working in this area often obtain wood samples, grind them up, and use various methods to extract the compounds they contain. This type of research goes hand in hand with plant scientists who work to determine the biology and genetics of trees and plants, possibly to develop strains that produce greater or lesser amounts of a specific material. This job function is becoming increasingly important as resources are sought to produce biofuels.

Wood chemists' technology differs according to the nature of the work environment. Pulp and paper chemists work in an atmosphere of large industrial machinery designed to manipulate and break down whole trees to produce large quantities of wood-fiber products and paper. Research-and-development chemists work primarily in a typical laboratory environment, using standard laboratory equipment and analytical devices.

Earnings and Employment Outlook

One of the most significant employment growth areas for wood chemists is biofuels and biomass recycling. In these fields, a wood chemist with only a bachelor's degree can significantly contribute, although employers will prefer those with more advanced qualifications. The field is expanding globally, and even some oil-exporting nations in the Middle East have instituted biofuel programs to stimulate the agricultural sector of their economies and hedge against the depletion of crude oil reserves.

Biomass conversion of wood-based materials depends on the breakdown of cellulosic material so that the resulting starches and sugars become amenable to the fermentation processes that produce fuel-grade alcohols. Other avenues of biomass conversion include thermal reformation processes and the recovery of natural oil produced as part of the biological processes of living trees and other plants.

There is also increased demand for products from recycled and reprocessed paper rather than new paper from raw materials. Improving paper-fiber-reprocessing methodologies is another area of wood chemistry where growth can be expected. While these specific areas of wood chemistry should experience significant growth, all other areas will likely experience the relatively slow growth typical of the chemical sciences.

Related Occupations

• Food Scientists:Food science requires a background in analytical techniques and biochemistry to maintain and improve the quality of food materials for human and animal consumption through wood-sourced materials.

• Soil and Plant Scientists:Soil scientists and plant scientists work in the most significant field of green technology as industrial applications turn increasingly to renewable resources from plants. The job requires an understanding of the role played by healthy soils in maintaining these resources.

• Forestry Scientists:Forestry scientists set out to understand the ecology of forests and maintain their ongoing health and renewal.

• Environmental Scientists:Environmental science is one of the primary fields impacted by green philosophy. It is closely related to forestry, soil science, and plant science.

• Pharmaceutical Chemists: Compounds derived from wood sources are essential in wood chemistry and have increasing applications in pharmaceutical development.

Future Applications

The most significant application of wood as a renewable resource has always been its use as a structural material, which is likely to stay the same. However, the demands placed on the resources from which wood is derived face pressure that increases with population growth and needs. As a product of biological origin, wood is subject to decomposition over time, and developing and discovering methods of prolonging the working lifetime of wood-based structures is expected to be increasingly important.

At the same time, forest ecologists and environmentalists recognize that most wood resources' potential is unrealized, but forests are being eliminated faster than knowledge about them is growing. Wood chemists will be essential in preserving natural forests by actively discovering new and valuable wood-sourced compounds and reducing the pressure to exploit wood resources. The most crucial area in which wood chemists will contribute to the long-term viability of forests and wood products, in general, is the biofuels industry, where they will identify and develop methodologies for producing combustible fuels such as alcohols and biodiesel from wood-based materials. This is an area of intense research and is likely to require the services of a large number of wood chemists.

Another area of research is in developing products traditionally made using plastic or metal from hardened wood. This involves both chemical treatment and other processes, such as densification through pressure.

Bibliography

"Chemists and Materials Scientists." Occupational Outlook Handbook. Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States Department of Labor, 17 Apr. 2024, www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/chemists-and-materials-scientists.htm. Accessed 28 Aug. 2024.

Chen, Bo, et al. "Hardened Wood as a Renewable Alternative to Steel and Plastic." Matter, vol. 4, no. 12, 2021, pp. 3941-3952, doi.org/10.1016/j.matt.2021.09.020. Accessed 28 Aug. 2024.

"Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2023: 19-2031 Chemists." Bureau of Labor Statistics: Occupational Employment Statistics. United States Department of Labor, 3 Apr. 2024, www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes192031.htm. Accessed 28 Aug. 2024.

"Summary Report For: 19-2031.00 - Chemists." O*NET OnLine. National Center for O*NET Development, 9 Aug. 2024, www.onetonline.org/link/summary/19-2031.00. Accessed 28 Aug. 2024.