Rapid and Environmentally Friendly Treatment of Rubberwood using High Temperature Drying (HTD)

FRIM has successfully developed a rapid and environmentally-friendly High Temperature Drying (HTD®) system for the treatment of rubberwood. This technology eliminated the use of standard chemical treatment and the processing cycle time is reduced by approximately 70% of existing process. In addition, the quality of HTD® treated lumber is overall enhanced and has better dimensional stability compared to lumber produced by conventional methods. HTD® treated rubberwood is suitable for the production of finger jointed stocks and value-added products such as solid wooden flooring. Currently, the HTD® system is being utilised to dry and heat-treat other low to medium density timber species, and specific protocols are being developed for these species for optimised timber throughput as well as the overall drying efficiency.