Edmone Roffael

Edmone Roffael (born December 31, 1939 in Tulkarm , Palestine ) is an Arab - German chemist and forest scientist . The well-known wood researcher made significant contributions to the clarification of formaldehyde emissions , especially from wood chipboard materials (chipboard). From 1993 to 2005 Roffael was head of the wood chemistry and wood technology department at the Institute for Wood Biology and Wood Technology in the Faculty of Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology at the Georg-August University in Göttingen .

Life

Edmone Roffael was born on December 31, 1939 in Tulkarm, Palestine. First he studied chemistry at the Egyptian universities in Alexandria and Cairo as well as at the Technical University of Darmstadt . After graduating he was at Darmstadt in 1968 with the dissertation X-ray and infrared studies on the state of order of the cellulose in the subject Cellulose Chemistry for Dr.-Ing. PhD. He then worked from 1970 to 1993 at the Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research in Braunschweig , where he dealt with technical wood research. The focus of his research soon became the various wood chip materials and their production using synthetic resins such as phenol - formaldehyde resin (PF resins), phenoplasts or aminoplasts . On this topic, Roffael also wrote his habilitation thesis on the possibility of gluing wood chips with phenol-formaldehyde resins and sulphite waste liquor , with which he completed his habilitation in 1976 at the forestry faculty of the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen and thus obtained the license to teach ( venia legendi ) for the subject "wood chemistry" .

From 1981 Roffael taught as an adjunct professor ("apl. Prof.") at the Forestry Faculty of the University of Göttingen. In 1993 he accepted the call of Georgia Augusta to the chair of wood science . In the following years he set up the "Wood Chemistry" department at the Institute for Forest Use , and in 1997 the entire facility was renamed "Institute for Wood Biology and Wood Technology".

Edmone Roffael achieved international fame primarily through his contributions to formaldehyde research. He devoted his scientific attention to this problem at an early stage and published the standard work on the formaldehyde emission of chipboard and other materials as early as 1982 . But it was only in the years that followed that the topic was widely discussed in public - mainly because of the feared possible damage to health. His book received updated translations into Russian (1991) and English (1993). The methods and devices co-developed by Roffael for measuring the potential formaldehyde release from materials were also based on the development of German and European standards, guidelines and regulations. Roffael always looked for ways to minimize the outgassing of these substances. With this in mind, he also researched other so-called “ volatile organic compounds ” from raw wood and wood products. He was also significantly involved in the development of the tannin-bound chipboard. He holds numerous patents .

Roffael published his research results primarily in the specialist organs WKI-Mitteilungen , Holz als Roh- und Material , Holz-Zentralblatt and Das Papier . By 2005 he had written more than 350 publications.

Edmone Roffael's person and work enjoy worldwide recognition. Various research and consulting activities took him to Egypt , Brazil , Bulgaria , Chile , Greece , Canada , Malaysia , Sweden , Syria , Turkey and the USA .

On the occasion of his 65th birthday, the Faculty of Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology at the University of Göttingen honored him on April 21, 2005 with a celebratory colloquium on the subject of “The changing wood industry and wood products”. Around 120 participants from science and industry gathered in the auditorium at Wilhelmsplatz. Even after his retirement on April 1, 2005, he continued to work in research and led various research projects.

Edmone Roffael lives in Braunschweig.

Fonts (selection)

• X-ray and infrared studies on the state of order of cellulose , dissertation, Darmstadt 1968
• Possibilities of gluing wood chips with phenol-formaldehyde resins and sulphite waste liquor , habilitation thesis, Göttingen 1975/1976
• Contributions to the use of alkaline phenol-formaldehyde resins [phenol-formaldehyde resins] and lignosulfonates in the gluing of wood chips , WKI report no. 8, Braunschweig 1976
• The formaldehyde release from chipboard and other materials , Stuttgart 1982 ( ISBN 3-87181-301-X ; Russian translation 1991, English translation 1993)
• as a processor together with Rainer Grießhammer : Use of thinning wood and waste paper for paper production taking into account forestry issues , air, soil, waste (booklet 37), Stuttgart 1995
• as co-author: Environmental protection in the wood-based panel industry. Conference on June 24th and 25th, 1998 in Göttingen. Conference proceedings , Göttingen 1999
• together with Claus Behn: Investigations to reduce the change in length of chipboard through the targeted use of material-inherent properties and the use of moisture-resistant additives. Final report. Duration: July 1 , 1999 to August 31 , 2003 , Göttingen 2004

literature

• NN: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Edmone Roffael, 65 years . In: Holz-Zentralblatt , Volume 131, 9/2005, p. 124, ISSN  0018-3792
• J. Fischer: “You have contributed to the quality of life for all of us”. Ceremonial colloquium on the occasion of the 65th birthday of Prof. Edmonde [sic!] Roffael - great merits in formaldehyde research . In: Holz-Zentralblatt , Volume 131, 35/2005, pp. 435 and 438, ISSN  0018-3792

Web links

• Literature by and about Edmone Roffael in the catalog of the German National Library
• NN: Colloquium for the 65th birthday of Prof. Dr. Edmone Roffael. Experts give lectures on current issues in wood research and the wood industry ; Press release of the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen from April 11, 2005 (with a short biography of Roffael)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} N.N .: Colloquium for the 65th birthday of Prof. Dr. Edmone Roffael ; Press release of the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen from April 11, 2005; Retrieved October 8, 2007.
2. ↑ Jürgen Lauterbach: ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: Span-Ferkeleien ) In: Öko-Haus 1/1999, accessed on October 8, 2007.
3. ↑ J. Fischer: “You have contributed to the quality of life for all of us”. Ceremonial colloquium on the occasion of the 65th birthday of Prof. Edmonde [sic!] Roffael - great merits in formaldehyde research . In: Holz-Zentralblatt , Volume 131, 35/2005, pp. 435 and 438.