The measurement of volatile organic emissions from drying southern pine lumber in a laboratory-scale kiln

Since volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from drying wood have not been a regulatory or scientific issue, published information related to this topic is scarce. Presented here are the results from early investigations of the effect of raw material and drying conditions on VOC emissions from drying samples of southern pine lumber. A laboratory-scale kiln with a capacity of approximately 70 kg of green lumber was used in these experiments. Samples of lumber free of heartwood and knots gave a VOC emission value of 3.28 lb/MBF. Emission values in the range of 7.41 to 16.6 lb./MBF were obtained with samples of lumber that were primarily heartwood.