Plywood and Composite Wood Products (PCWP): virtual tour

Product Types

There are three main type products under the category of plywood and wood composites production:

1. Plywood and veneer
   
2. Particleboard, strand and fiber composites
   
3. Structural wood members.

The manufacture of plywood consists basically of combining an odd number of layers of veneer, with each layer having one or more plies. Hardwood plywood is generally made by applying a hardwood veneer to the face and back of a softwood plywood, MDF, or particleboard panel. Particleboard, oriented strandboard, fiberboard, and hardboard are all processed similarly. These three types of reconstituted wood products are manufactured by combining fragmented pieces of wood and wood fiber into a cohesive mat of wood particles, fibers, and strands. Structural wood members are the products of multiple manufacturing techniques.

Release of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) is primarily associated with drying and pressing processes in the manufacturing of plywood and wood composites. Coating processes are intrinsically related to the manufacturing process and result in further emissions through drying and pressing. Particulate matter emissions are also a concern for the PCWP industry.

Control systems in use in the PCWP industry include add-on control systems and incineration of process exhaust in an onsite combustion unit. The potential for pollution prevention also exists in the PCWP industry; however, there are no known and demonstrated pollution prevention techniques that can be universally applied across the industry. The emissions from PCWP process units are associated with the wood and/or resin processed.

Over the past decades, the PCWP industry and its resin suppliers have responded to pressure to reduce the HAP content of resins. It is expected that this trend will continue into the future (e.g., resins with lower HAP content are likely to be developed). At the present time, few facilities use pollution prevention measures to achieve an emission reduction comparable to that of add-on incineration-based control systems.

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