Energy-efficient treatment chamber may protect against destructive pests

Credit: Karolina Szymona

Credit: Karolina Szymona

Problem

How can we stop the threat to forests and the wood products industry posed by insect pests transported with wood packaging material?

Findings

Researchers discovered a way to kill destructive pests, such as emerald ash borers and pinewood nematodes, in wood for pallets and other shipping materials. An energy-efficient wood treatment chamber that uses radio frequency waves could replace current methyl bromide treatment, which is toxic to workers and contributes to ozone depletion.

Impact

Use of this chamber could prevent thousands of pounds of toxic methyl bromide from being released into the atmosphere each year.

  • About 40 percent of U.S. logs are processed into wooden shipping pallets, so it's important to the U.S. wood industry that wood packaging continue to be acceptable internationally.

Related Research Area:  Environmental Resilience

Research Credit

Team

Participating Departments

Competitive Funding

  • USDA NIFA Methyl Bromide Transitions Program; College of Agricultural Sciences Research Applications for INnovations (RAIN) Program

Federal and State Appropriations

  • Project PEN04576 and USDA NIFA Accession #1004464

Emerging Discoveries

Published Research

    Comparative study of radio-frequency and microwave heating for phytosanitary treatment of wood

    Intellectual Property Profile

    Office for Research and Graduate Education

    Address

    217 Agricultural Administration Building
    University Park, PA 16802-2600

    Office for Research and Graduate Education

    Address

    217 Agricultural Administration Building
    University Park, PA 16802-2600