The Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) / Turpentine process: innovative solutions for VOC emissions reduction and turpentine production in the wood-based panel industry sector

The MDF/Turpentine process is an innovative approach developed to reduce volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions - principally terpenes - from the dryer off-gases in medium-density fiberboard (MDF) production facilities using pine as raw material, while simultaneously enabling the recovery of turpentine as a marketable product. This process has been developed by Fiberboard GmbH (Classen Group) in Baruth (Germany) where turpentine is produced based on steam processing of wood chips.

In the new MDF-turpentine process, developed by Fiberboard GmbH (part of the Classen Group) in Baruth (Germany), turpentine is produced based on steam processing of wood chips obtained principally from scots pine (Waldkiefer, Pinus Sylvestris). Essentially, VOC emissions from the digestion / refining section of the plant are recovered using a dedicated steam removal process. At this stage, VOC emissions can be either led to the power station for incineration or preferably led to a dedicated condensation step in which turpentine can be produced and sold off to third parties as a valuable product. In this case, VOC emissions are substantially reduced (by more than 50%) compared to the current VOC emission limit values specified in the Best Available Techniques reference document for wood-based panel industry (MDF production) using conventional abatement techniques such as bio-scrubbers or wet scrubbers.

At Fiberboard GmbH in Baruth/Mark, Germany, Stage 1 (incineration) has been in continuous industrial operation since 2023, and the full turpentine recovery system (Stage 2) will come onstream in late 2026, producing up to 1 200 tonnes / annum of turpentine.

KEY OPERATIONAL STEPS:
Key steps of the MDF/turpentine production process are summarised below.

• Wood Preparation: Wood residues are chipped to uniform size, screened to remove bark, dirt, and metal fragments, and in some plants washed to remove sand and grit before further processing.

• Steam Cooking: Wood chips are treated with steam to soften the material and facilitate subsequent mechanical breakdown into fibres.

• Mechanical Refining: Softened chips are passed through a refiner to produce fine wood fibres of consistent quality for MDF manufacture.

• Fibre Screening and Blending: Fibres are screened to remove oversized particles and then blended with resin adhesive and additives to achieve the required panel strength and durability.

• Steam Extraction for VOC Control: At a specific process point, a small quantity of steam carrying terpene vapours is diverted from the main process stream and directed either to the power station for incineration (Stage 1) or to a condensation unit for turpentine recovery (Stage 2).

• Turpentine Recovery by Condensation and Decanting: The diverted steam is condensed using available heat sinks within the process; the condensate is separated in a decanting vessel into an oil phase (turpentine: alpha-pinene, beta-pinene, delta-3-carene, limonene) and a water phase. The turpentine is collected in a storage tank and dispatched by tank truck.

• Panel Pressing: The resin-blended fibre mat is pressed at high temperature and pressure to form the final dense MDF panels.



CROSS-MEDIA EFFECTS:
No significant adverse cross-media effects are reported. The incineration route requires withdrawal of up to 5 tonnes of steam from the process, which must be replaced with fresh steam, generating some operating costs.

DEGREE OF MATURITY:

Stage 1 (Incineration): The steam extraction and incineration stage reached full industrial operation at Fiberboard GmbH in Baruth/Mark, Germany, in 2023 and has been in continuous operation since then. This corresponds to TRL 9.

Stage 2 (turpentine recovery): The turpentine condensation and recovery system comes onstream at the Baruth facility in late 2026, producing up to 1 200 tonnes / year of turpentine (approximately one tank truck per week). This stage was previously demonstrated at pilot-production scale with a capacity of up to 50 kg/h or 400 tonnes/ year. It will be operating at full industrial scale (TRL 9) from late 2026.

Participant Companies