by Web Editor | Mar 27, 2015 | News
From: Panel World Staff
In response to the CBS 60 Minutes news story on formaldehyde emissions that aired March 1, Composite Panel Association developed a new information resource that provides the North American marketplace assurance that CPA-certified composite panels, and products made with those panels, do indeed comply with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) regulation.
To help protect U.S. consumers and eliminate confusion in the North American marketplace, CPA is working with the Federal Wood Industries Coalition (FWIC) to encourage the U.S. EPA to finalize their national regulation on emissions from composite panels that is now almost three years past the statutory deadline. It is important that EPA finalizes its regulation so that finished goods made with composite panels, made domestically or internationally, are regulated nationwide, CPA states.
In addition, CPA continues to work closely with CARB to ensure harmonization between California regulation, currently being amended, and EPA’s new regulation. CPA’s newest resource titled, “A Message from CPA About Formaldehyde Emissions,” is intended to provide customers, distributors, retailers and end-users of CPA-certified panels the confidence that panels labeled as compliant meet or exceed the CARB regulation.
The paper states that CPA has served as a TPC (third party certifier) and is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and by ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board (ANAB) (formerly ACLASS) as a certification and inspection body. It also operates a state-of-the-art testing facility also accredited by ANAB, with yearly assessments.
Read more on this story in the May 2015 issue of Panel World…
by Web Editor | Mar 2, 2015 | News
Composite panel consumption is projected to grow in North America through 2016, buoyed in part by the strengthening of the U.S. housing market and positive indicators of improvement in the furniture and related industries. Figures from Resource Information Systems, Inc. (RISI) project particleboard consumption to rise 10 percent in 2015, to 3.29 billion square feet, and grow 11 percent in 2016, to 3.64 billion square feet. Similarly, MDF is projected to hit 2.97 billion square feet in 2015, a rise of 9 percent, and jump to 3.28 billion square feet in 2016, up 10 percent.
Panel producers are gearing up, with already two companies announcing multi-million plant investments this year.
Uniboard announced Feb. 5 that it will invest more than $53 million at its Val-d’Or particleboard and thermally fused laminate (TFL) facility as part of its plan to increase productivity and upgrade key production areas. The company produces particleboard, MDF and TFL from mills in Val-d’Or, Sayabec, Mont-Laurier and Laval, Canada.
Uniboard President and CEO James N. Hogg said the project will enable the company to enhance its engineered wood and value-added product offerings. “Over recent years, Uniboard has invested heavily into product development, launching new color collections including North America’s first registered embossed thermofused laminate panels as well as expanding our successful NU Green range of low and no-formaldehyde products,” he added.
This followed the Jan. 26 news from Arauco that it will invest $30 million to grow the particleboard and TFL capacity at its mill in Bennettsville, SC. The new technology is expected to be in place by the fourth quarter. Arauco said increased dryer capacity will help it to improve its particleboard production by 60 million ft2, on a 3/4-inch basis annually. Arauco also will add a high-tech fast-cycle press for TFL production.
From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/wood/panel-supply/Composite-Panel-Market-Grows-Consumption-to-Hit-10-in-2015-294396371.html#sthash.7iZYxiAW.dpbs
by Web Editor | Sep 6, 2013 | Taking Stock
Story by Rich Donnell,
Editor-In-Chief
The latest development in EPA’s proposed formaldehyde regulations is that Composite Panel Assn. and the Federal Wood Industry Coalition filed a petition with the EPA asking for an extension of the public comment time beyond what EPA had granted, due to the complexity of the proposed rules.
EPA’s proposed rules fundamentally align with the requirements for composite wood products set by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), putting in place national standards for companies that manufacture or import hardwood plywood, MDF and particleboard. EPA’s proposals also encourage switching to no-added formaldehyde resins.
Some of the concerns on industry’s part include the disclosure of confidential business information, the handling of non-complying lots, definitions of hardboard and laminated products for purposes of exemption, treatment of ULEF and NAF, and various obligations of third party certifiers.
CPA has favored national standards to level the playing field, but if it needs more time, so be it. After all, the formaldehyde emissions issue has been with us for more than three decades, and even longer if you go back to the early 1970s; that’s when the technical director of National Particleboard Assn. (which became CPA) called up the NPA legal counsel and said somebody had raised the question about whether the off-gassing of formaldehyde was something individual companies should be concerned about because it might violate the federal law that prohibited shipment of chemicals or items that might cause chemical-related problems. NPA chose to send out a notice to its member companies giving them a heads-up.
The issue really took hold in the late 1970s, when some manufactured home occupants complained about irritation; also, a study by the Chemical Industry Institute of Technology found high levels of inhaled formaldehyde (15.0 ppm-parts per million) for a two-year period caused nasal cancer in lab rates; and Consumer Products Commission investigated a few installation problems with urea formaldehyde foam insulation in retrofit projects in older homes, generating widespread media coverage.
As CPA is today, it was then highly proactive along with the adhesive suppliers, and by the mid 1980s product emissions had been reduced by more than 75%.
EPA first jumped into the fray in 1983, looking at worst-case scenarios and suggesting home occupants could develop cancer, though numerous independent studies kept indicating such evidence was lacking.
In the mid 1990s, NPA even put up nearly a half million dollars toward the construction of a test home, and the ensuing studies showed formaldehyde levels lower than what the EPA models had predicted. In the test house as a whole, formaldehyde concentrations did not exceed .070 ppm, and the highest level was .076 ppm in the kitchen.
Today’s CARB regulations and those proposed by EPA call for 0.09 ppm for particleboard, 0.11 for MDF and 0.13 for thin MDF, as well as 0.05 ppm for hardwood plywood with veneer or composite core. EPA should thank the composite board industry for its amazing accomplishments.
by Site Manager | Sep 12, 2011 | Update
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has concluded that EPA’s recent Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) assessment regarding the health risks of formaldehyde exposure is significantly flawed and does not scientifically support its conclusions.
In a news release by Momentive Specialty Chemicals, Inc., the company states NAS has told the EPA it would have to make “significant changes in scientific evaluation and interpretation” in order to bring the study into compliance with NAS standards.
“The NAS report is an important and positive development because as currently drafted, the EPA’s IRIS assessment could lead authorities to set formaldehyde exposure standards at unnecessarily low levels not supported by scientific studies,” the news release states. “It is heartening that the NAS report supports Momentive’s and industry’s call for sound science and science-based risk determinations.”
NAS cited the EPA study as “problematic,” “subjective,” and said it contained “inconsistencies in the epidemiological data.”
by Web Editor | Nov 26, 2010 | Taking Stock
Story by Rich Donnell,
Editor-in-Chief
Panel World magazine, as you may have realized, is published every other month. So its last issue of the year, such as the one in your hand, carries a November dateline; but in reality this issue is put to bed in late September, so when I say let’s review the past year, as I am now saying, I’m referring to late September 2009 to late September 2010.
I will say this, as bad as things have been, that late September 2009 and late September 2010 went a lot smoother than, say, late September 2008. You remember late September 2008 don’t you? The general economy was in a nosedive. Lehman Brothers had just filed for bankruptcy apparently because it couldn’t manage its subprime mortgage holdings. The stock market was collapsing. The building industry, which was already ill, went into a coma.
Since then, through late September 2009 and late September 2010, the building industry has emerged from its coma, though at times it still has difficulty recognizing some of the people in the room, and when it chooses to speak, its words aren’t always intelligible. It still has a lot more bad days than good days.
Here’s what happened during some of those days in the past year:
- A new business, Peninsula Plywood, decided to start operating the softwood plywood plant in Port Angeles, Wash., which had started up in 1941 under the name, Peninsula Plywood.
- Composite Panel Assn. took the position that the federal government’s Biomass Crop Assistance Program for renewable energy projects was an unfair subsidy program that could have disastrous consequences on wood-based industries.
- Murphy Co. geared up the idled Panel Products plywood plant in Rogue River, Ore.
- Arauco purchased Tafisa.
- Panel World magazine celebrated its 50th anniversary.
- Georgia-Pacific acquired the OSB facilities of Grant Forest Products.
- Duraflake started up a melamine lamination facility in Albany, Oregon, and celebrated 50 years of operation there.
- Uniboard produced its first MDF panel at its $160 million plant in Moncure, NC, part of which was moved from La Baie, Quebec and refurbished.
- The second Panel & Engineered Lumber International Conference & Expo was held in Atlanta, Georgia, featuring such excellent speakers as OSB industry entrepreneur John Godfrey.
- A bump up in markets during the early part of the year didn’t fool anybody that the recovery had truly begun.
- Composite Panel Assn. celebrated its 50th year, since its formation as National Particleboard Assn. in 1960.
- Long-time plywood equipment manufacturing specialist Dick Kerns died at age 74.
- EPA’s proposed Boiler Maximum Achievable Control Technology rules didn’t sit well with companies still immersed in a recession.
- The federal government passed into law a national formaldehyde standards act for board emissions that, while extremely strict, should level the playing field with regard to quality control, testing and enforcement.
- As reported in this issue, Momentive Performance Materials and Hexion merged to form a $7.5 billion resins giant.
- As also noted in this issue, our friend and former columnist, Professor Al Moslemi, died at age 74.
