Research Article | OPEN ACCESS
Biomass Powered Natural Convection Kiln for Timber Drying
1N.V. Ogueke, 1P.C. Nwaizu, 1O. Nwufo, 2K. Nwaigwe and 1E.E. Anyanwu
1Department of Mechanical Engineering
2Department of Agricultural Engineering, Federal University of Technology, PMB 1526, Owerri, Nigeria
Research Journal of Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology 2015 4:282-287
Received: August ‎13, ‎2014 | Accepted: September ‎14, ‎2014 | Published: February 05, 2015
Abstract
The design and test performance of a biomass powered natural convection kiln for timber drying is presented. It consists of two sections: the heating section where biomass combustion for inlet air heating occurs and the drying section where the timber is loaded for drying. Inlet air heating is achieved in a heat exchanger of dimension 0.5 m by 0.165 m while temperature stratification in the drying chamber is reduced by letting flue gas from the combustion chamber flow through a space between the side walls of the drying section and the outer housing of the kiln before being expelled. The kiln performance test was carried out for 40 day. Results obtained show that air temperature within the drying section stabilized at 55 -59°C with a minimum relative humidity of 31% (when unloaded) and 45% (when loaded). Timber moisture content reduction from 65 to 30% was achieved in 30 days. Thus it has potential for improved timber drying.
Keywords:
Biomass, drying , kiln , timber,
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Competing interests
The authors have no competing interests.
Open Access Policy
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
Copyright
The authors have no competing interests.
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