A commercial scale system and process for chemically modifying wood and then heating the chemically-modified wood. The system/process separates the chemical modification step from the heating step by utilizing two different vessels for the modification and heating steps. The system and process can, in certain situations, include a containment room for preventing escape of vapors from a chemical wood modification reactor, a wood heater, and/or a chemically-modified bundle of wood as the bundle is transported from the wood modification reactor to the wood heater.