METHOD AND DEVICE FOR HEATING A PRESSED MATERIAL MAT

The invention relates to a method for pre-heating a pressed material mat (2) before feeding same into a press (4)， in particular in the course of producing wood material boards. The pressed material mat (2) runs through a double-belt pre-heating device (3) with an upper continuously circulating gas-permeable transport belt (5a) and a lower continuously circulating gas-permeable transport belt (5b)， wherein the pressed material mat (2) is supplied with steam or a steam-air mixture in the double-belt pre-heating device (3) by means of at least one steam supply device (7)， and the pressed material mat is thereby heated. The method is characterized in that the transport belts (5a， 5b) in the double-belt pre-heating device (3) are supplied with hot air by means of a drying device (9) arranged downstream of the steam supplying device (7) in the transport direction (T) such that the moisture deposited on the transport belt (5a， 5b) by means of the steam pre-heating process is picked up by the hot air (L) flowing along the transport belts (5a， 5b) and is discharged together with the hot air.