Treating Wood Packaging

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

• Kelli Hoover and John Janowiak

Participating Departments

• Entomology
• Agricultural and Biological Engineering

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

Technology that destroys pests in wood moves closer to commercialization

January 21, 2020

A technology that uses dielectric heating and radio frequency energy to destroy destructive pests lurking within wood products is closer to reaching the marketplace after a recent commercial trial at Penn State’s University Park campus.

Published Research

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

• Dubey, M. K., Janowiak, J., Mack, R., Elder, P., & Hoover, K. (2016). Comparative study of radio-frequency and microwave heating for phytosanitary treatment of wood. European Journal of Wood and Wood Products, 74(4), 491-500. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00107-016-1025-2

Intellectual Property Profile

• Radio Frequency Sanitization of Wood Packaging Materials (ID# 2016-4521)