30 PalletCentral • November-December 2019 palletcentral.com
any of us often use a microwave to heat
up lunch or refresh a hot beverage.
Now imagine using a related technology,
Radio Frequency (RF) dielectric heating,
to heat wood from within to destroy
invasive pests. Our team, composed of
researchers at Penn State, USDA-APHIS
and RF Kiln Tech Ltd. have taken on the
challenge of bringing RF heat treatment
technology to pallet manufacturers. Thanks to support from
NWPCA and select members, our recent research suggests that
for a 5600 bdft commercial trial, ISPM 15-compliant treatment
can be effectively applied at a cost of five cents per standard 48x40
Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) shipping pallet. This
dielectric treatment cost is potentially well below current pallet
heat treatment practices.
RF refers to a certain frequency and wave length of
corresponding electromagnetic energy (we are using 6.78 MHz)
to effectively create the heat. Heating of wood occurs through the
continuous change of the RF field from positive to negative that
affects water molecules in wood fiber. Water being a highly
dipolar molecule (one end is positively charged and the other
M
MANUFACTURER
UPDATE
By Mark Gagnon, Karolina Szymona,
John Janowiak, Kelli Hoover,
Ronald Mack and Mark Hamelin
INDUSTRY
Radio Frequency
Dielectric Heating
for Pallet Sanitization
