CRITICAL ISSUE

Infectious Diseases | Protecting Against Infections and Decreasing Disease Incidence

Treating Wood Packaging

Energy-efficient treatment chamber may  protect against destructive pests.

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.

Read More
Team

Kelli Hoover and John Janowiak

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

Images: Karolina Szymona
urfingus/Bigstock.com

%

U.S. logs processed into wooden shipping pallets