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Optimization of drying kiln operation
Author(s) -
Gustafsson StigInge
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
international journal of energy research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.808
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1099-114X
pISSN - 0363-907X
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-114x(200001)24:1<19::aid-er562>3.0.co;2-v
Subject(s) - kiln , raw material , waste management , wood drying , electricity , factory (object oriented programming) , environmental science , process engineering , engineering , boiler (water heating) , pulp and paper industry , water content , computer science , electrical engineering , chemistry , programming language , geotechnical engineering , organic chemistry
When timber is to be used in the form of furniture it must be dried. Green timber contains many times more water than wood and if it is placed indoors the water will slowly evaporate. When the fibre saturation point is reached the wooden parts start to shrink and the shape of the details will change. If the wood is dried before it is used for furniture parts this calamity is reduced because shrinking has occurred already in the drying kiln when the raw material was in the form of lumber. This drying process uses a lot of heat which is produced by electricity or by firing wood chips or oil in boilers. The cost for these energy sources varies during the season or, for electricity, also during the day. This paper describes how to optimize the use of energy in two drying kilns located at a small carpentry factory in the south of Sweden. Monitored values from the factory are used in order to describe the process in close detail. These values are then used as a basis for a mathematical model which is designed in the form of a mixed integer linear program. The method makes it possible to optimize the operating schemes for the two dryers. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.