Alternative Energy in the Processes of Drying of Thermolabile Materials

摘要

In the woodworking industry, energy consumption for drying lumber reaches 15% of the cost of production. An important role in such processes is played by the duration, which in most woodworking enterprises takes from two weeks to two months, depending on the range of the material being dried, which also leads to a significant consumption of thermal and electric energy. The solution of this problem is facilitated by the use of alternative energy sources along with the improvement of the known ones and the search for new methods of drying wood. We propose a solution in the form of development of a drying complex operating using a heat pump driven by an internal combustion engine. In turn, the internal combustion engine uses as an alternative fuel source - woodworking waste, formed in large quantities in woodworking enterprises. In this paper, studies are made of the influence of the parameters of the generator gas obtained from the hardened wood waste on the productivity of the drying complex. When carrying out the heat treatment of wood fuel, an increase in the content of hydrogen and carbon monoxide in the generator gas is observed while reducing carbon dioxide, i.e. when the temperature of the thermal treatment of wood fuels increases, the energy intensity resulting from gasification of the generator gas increases. Thus, research has shown that grinding wood waste with subsequent torrefication is one of the promising ways of pretreatment of wood fuel in obtaining thermal energy for drying processes of materials.