Microwave Drying of Wood Strands |
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Authors: | Guanben Du Siqun Wang Zhiyong Cai |
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Affiliation: | a Tennessee Forest Products Center, Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USAb The Faculty of Wood Science and Technology, Southwest Forestry College, Kunming, Chinac Forest Products Laboratory, One Gifford Pinchot Dr., Madison, Wisconsin, USA |
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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. |
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Keywords: | Microwave drying Wood strand Temperature Moisture content Energy efficiency Extractives |
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