Estimated VOC losses during the drying of five northeastern species

During the past decade, Federal and State officials have increasingly focused their attention on point sources of emission from wood-processing operations. Among those sources, dry kilns have been highlighted as a potential source of volatile organic compound {VOC) emissions. Unfortunately, few data are available that quantify the magnitude of the emissions arising from drying either hardwoods or softwoods. Although the industry has been generally cooperative and several attempts have been made to measure the emission levels from operating dry kilns, the complexity of the drying process combined with the myriad variables that are related to the species and provenance combine to make the measurements a daunting task. This paper reports the results of experiments that were designed to approximate the VOC release levels during the drying of five common northeastern species. The results indicate that the average VOC release levels for each of the species tested were under 1.4 pounds per thousand board feet. Although done under laboratory conditions, the results are a reasonable estimate of the VOC emission levels from dry kilns drying green wood from the species tested.

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