Quality Assessment

Under the umbrella of the WKI | AKADEMIE^®, the WKI CHILE | WORKSHOP took place on 21^st March 2018 in Concepción, Chile for the very first time. With the topic “New Trends in Emissions for Wood-based Panels Industry”, the one-day event addressed in particular the South American wood-based materials and adhesives industry.

From 10^th to 12^th October 2018, the Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research WKI and the European Panel Federation, in co-operation with the International Association for Technical Issues related to Wood, are organizing for the tenth time the European Wood-Based Panel Symposium. As of now you are invited to submit a presentation for the Symposium.

From 10^th to 12^th October 2018, the Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research WKI and the European Panel Federation, in co-operation with the International Association for Technical Issues related to Wood, are organizing for the tenth time the European Wood-Based Panel Symposium. As of now you are invited to submit a presentation for the Symposium.

EPA has published a prepublication concerning the extension of the compliance dates in the formaldehyde final rule “TSCA Title VI”.

On July 11, 2017, EPA published a direct final rule that would remove a provision in the formaldehyde final rule that prohibited early labeling of compliant composite wood products and finished goods under Formaldehyde Emission Standards for Composite Wood Products final rule 40 CFR 770.45(f).

On July 11th, 2017, EPA published a direct final rule that would remove a provision in the formaldehyde final rule that prohibits early labeling of compliant products.

On May 24th, 2017, EPA published a proposed rule to extend the compliance dates of ‘TSCA Title VI’.

With date of July 6, 2017 EPA withdrew this direct final rule.

On May 24th, 2017, EPA published a proposed rule to extend the compliance dates of ‘TSCA Title VI’.

With date of July 6, 2017 EPA withdrew this direct final rule.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced an extension of the deadlines for the fulfilment of the legal requirements for wood-based materials regarding formaldehyde, “TSCA Title VI”.

From March 13^th to 16^th, the WKI | AKADEMIE core course “Bonding in wooden construction” ran for the first time. The course is carried out in cooperation with the Institute of Building Construction and Timber Structures of the TU Braunschweig. In addition to participants from industry and science, students from the master program in civil engineering at the TU Braunschweig attended the course.

As of May 2017, CARB will remove the Perten Near-Infrared (NIR) method from their list of alternative small scale test methods approved for use by manufacturers of composite wood products in conducting routine quality control (QC) tests of formaldehyde emissions.

President Trump has issued an “Executive Order“, which freezes all recently published EPA rules for a 60-day review period. This review period also delays the entry into force for the EPA regulations concerning the formaldehyde release of wood-based materials.

On 2.2.2017, the Fraunhofer WKI received the authorization from the Lower Saxony Chamber of Agriculture to carry out the testing of drying and heating chambers for customers in the sawmill and wood-based materials industries. These chambers serve the heating of wood packaging in accordance with the IPPC standard ISPM No. 15. 

The recognition of the Fraunhofer WKI testing, monitoring and certification body in accordance with the Lower Saxony Building Regulations now also covers the monitoring and certification of carpentry connections.

With the awarding of the certificate by the Deutsche Akkreditierungsstelle GmbH (German national accreditation body, DAkkS) dated 15^th November 2016, the Fraunhofer WKI attained the accreditation as a certification body for management systems in accordance with DIN EN ISO/IEC 17021:2011.

On December 12th, a change in the law regarding formaldehyde emissions was published in the U.S. Federal Register concerning the production, certification and sale of wood-based materials in the USA. The Fraunhofer WKI continues to be available as a Third Party Certifier.

Under the leadership of the Fraunhofer WKI, a consortium of twelve research institutes is conducting interdisciplinary research into holistic solutions in order to significantly increase the application of insulation made from renewable raw materials.