Thermo-Treatment of Wood
State-of-Art Value-Added Technology
Westwood Thermo Plant in Macon, GA
Our thermo treatment plant in Macon, GA is the biggest in the USA with three thermo modification chambers and a total capacity of about 15 TLs of thermally modified lumber a month. We use our own patented thermo-treatment process, which we developed more than 20 years ago. We own one of five world's patents for wood modification. Westwood technology was specially developed for the treatment of hardwoods (hardwoods create thermochemical reactions at high temperatures and it is more complicated to control them than for treatment of softwoods). The industry of thermo-modification started in Europe in the 1990th. In 2007 Westwood was the first starting production of thermally-modified lumber in the USA.
Production Statistics
There are more than 30 thermo treatment plants all around the world and new plants are launched every year. Some of them belong to the Finland Thermowood Association. The diagram shows a consistent growth of Thermo Wood production of plants belonging to the Thermowood Association in the last two decades.
There are 5 thermo-treatment wood production plants currently in the USA and Canada. The Westwood thermo-modification plant in Macon is the biggest on the North American market.