Volatile organic chemicals emissions from OSB as a function of processing parameters

The effects of the oriented strand board (OSB) furnish drying temperature a nd moisture content on VOC emissions were evaluated and compared to those o f the OSB pressing time and temperature and resin content. Results clearly showed the important role played by the drying temperature on the strand em issions. A decrease of emissions is observed when the furnish at a given or iginal moisture content had been exposed to increasingly high temperatures. Also, the combined effect of moisture content and heating temperatures sho wed an increase of the detected TVOC as moisture content and the temperatur e increased. At a very high temperature however, the furnish at low moistur e content started to degrade, and an increase in the emission level could b e observed. The results showed that emissions from oriented strand board (O SB) panels were more sensitive to resin content and pressing time. The Box- Behnken statistical linear model used to treat the data revealed that a lin ear fitting better correlates our results. The correlation between the inte rnal bond (IB) and the panel's emissions indicated a decrease in emissions as the quality of the board (IB) increases in agreement with better resin c uring. The acquisition of more data will certainly be helpful to support th is preliminary study.