Heat treatment involves treating wood (raw, semi-finished or finished wood) at temperatures above 56 °C for more than half an hour. Heat treatment for wood mainly eliminates wood pests. According to some technical standards in the field, the time can be more than half an hour, depending on the size of the treated wood, on the temperature in the drying chamber and whether it is hardwood or softwood. The holding time in the dryer until the heat treatment is completed is calculated based on these three parameters.
In general, wood is heat treated against pests from two perspectives: depending on the industry (or the mandatory safety regulations in that industry) or depending on the requirements of different countries or regions for the transit of packaged goods on wooden pallets through customs. In certain cases, if pests are not removed from wood, they can end up in the goods carried on the pallet (for example) and this is strictly prohibited in certain industries, or, in other cases, if the wooden product reaches other countries and it not is heat treated against pests, it can reach forested areas in that country and infest those forests with pests from the country of origin. So the second benefit of heat treatment is to avoid the global spread of pests that affect trees.
The main beneficiaries in terms of heat treatment are clients from the food and pharmaceutical industry and companies that export merchandise on wooden pallets. There are cases when, on request, we apply heat treatment to construction timber to give it greater resistance over time. For pallets and EURO pallets, the treatment is usually mandatory.
Heat treatment rules, the method and the technical parameters of the treatment are regulated by the international standard IPPC - ISPM15. Our company is authorised according to this standard and has code RO-CS-026 HT DB.
Thus, products that we heat treat bear a visible stamp applied on at least two sides, certifying the product has been heat treated according to ISPM15.
Moreover, together with the documents for the merchandise, we also issue a Heat Treatment Certificate (in Romanian or English), which, as the case may be, is presented to the final beneficiaries (when/if they ask), to customs authorities, control bodies etc.
Our heat treatment capacity is about 25,000 800x1200 standard pallets per month or 30 lorries (13.6 ml.) of wood cargo.
Mainly, heat treatment is allocated to own products and secondarily for rental to other companies in the field.