Microwave drying of wood strands

Guanben Du; Siqun Wang; Zhiyong Cai

Treesearch

Microwave drying of wood strands

Informally Refereed

Authors:

Guanben Du, Siqun Wang, Zhiyong Cai

Year:

2005

Type:

Miscellaneous Publication

Station:

Forest Products Laboratory

Source:

Drying technology. Vol. 23 (2005): pages 1-16.

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Abstract

Characteristics of microwave drying of wood strands with different initial moisture contents and geometries were investigated using a commercial small microwave oven under different power inputs. Temperature and moisture changes along with the drying efficiency were examined at different drying scenarios. Extractives were analyzed using gas chromatography=mass spectrometry (GC=MS). The results showed that the microwave drying process consisted of three distinct periods (warm-up period, evaporation period, and heating-up period) during which the temperature, moisture change, and drying efficiency could vary. Most of the extractives were remnant during microwave drying. It was observed that with proper selections of power input, weight of drying material, and drying time, microwave drying could increase the drying rate, save up to 50% of energy consumption, and decrease volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions when compared with the conventional drying method.

Keywords

Microwave drying, wood strand, temperature, moisture content, energy efficiency, extractives, energy consumption, particle board, drying, microwave heating, volatile organic compounds, wood extractives, drying schedules, oriented strandboard, OSB, wood fibers

Citation

Du, Guanben; Wang, Siqun; Cai, Zhiyong. 2005. Microwave drying of wood strands. Drying technology. Vol. 23 (2005): pages 1-16.