MAXIMIZE ECONOMIC VIABILITY OF RADIO-FREQUENCY HEATING FOR QPS TREATMENT OF WOOD PACKAGING MATERIALS

The wood products industry will continue to request critical use exemptions for MeBr fumigation of wood packaging materials (WPM) and other wood commodities as long as acceptable alternative treatments are unavailable or cost prohibitive. Our research provided the necessary data to obtain approval of dielectric heating (DH), which includes radio-frequency (RF) and microwave (MW), as the first alternative to MeBr under International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures 15 (ISPM-15). Because WPM is associated with most global merchandise trade, ISPM-15 affects more trade by volume than any other phytosanitary measure. The version of ISPM-15 adopted for DH includes restrictions on treatment load (< 20 cm) and time (within 30 minutes). These restrictions are unnecessary and cost prohibitive for application of RF for economical bulk treatment of WPM. Our long-term goal is to expedite adoption of RF technology as a long-term solution to reducing MeBr use for QPS purposes by delivering economically competitive treatment schedules. To meet our goal we will (1) Demonstrate that RF heating under commercial conditions effectively treats WPM >20 cm in any dimension, (2) Show that efficacy of killing pests in wood is not reduced when treatment time >30 minutes, (3) Conduct comparative economic analyses of RF heating with and without current treatment restrictions and in comparison to MeBr and conventional heat treatment, (4) Educate and promote adoption of RF through our Stakeholder Advisory Committee and Extension activities. Working with the U.S. National Plant Protection Organization, we will support formal submission of documentation to the IPPC to remove restrictions for RF under ISPM-15. This proposal is in response to quarantine and pre-shipment uses and CUN 2008-2015: Post harvest use on structures/food processing plants; this technology can also be modified for use on food products such as grains and nuts and is already used to treat seeds.