Assessment and optimization of radio frequency heating technology as treatment to protect Canadian green log and timber exports by killing microbes and other pests

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The export to foreign markets of Canadian wood products or products with wood packaging will be restricted if Canadian and foreign regulatory agencies believe there is a phytosanitary risk, i.e. a risk that beetles/fungal associates and other pests are present in the wood. Exports of wood products from infested regions can be maintained by treatments like convective heating and fumigation with methyl bromide. Methyl bromide is being phased out under the Montreal Protocol as an ozone-depleting chemical. Heat treatment is not always economically feasible, especially for larger size material; for green wood products, which are exported with high moisture contents, it is impractical. Alternative treatments include other fumigants, chemical pressure impregnation, dielectric heating with microwave or radio frequency technology, and gamma irradiation. Before alternative methods can be used industrially for green wood products, they need to be further developed and optimized, and then approved by international phytosanitary control groups. We propose to evaluate radio frequency technology as an alternative treatment method for green wood products. Although this technology has already been recognized as a drying process for lumber, it has not been tested for eliminating pests in green dimensional wood. It may be an efficient way of introducing high temperatures for short times (e.g. 70oC for 2 minutes) that will result in keeping more moisture into the wood. If successful, the technology could be implemented rapidly at an industrial scale, could change how pest control is handled in international trade for large green dimensional timber and logs, and would give Canadian industry the opportunity to be a leader in this technology while maintaining and increasing export sales of green wood products.