Drying parawood with superheated steam

Abstract

A superhated steam dryer (SSD) was used to dry the parawood. The average moisture content and temperatures in the dryer vs. elapsed drying time were experimentally investigated. It was found that the superheated steam could increase the potential of the conventional hot air drying. By using a SSD at the superheated steam temperature of 110 °C with volumetric flow rate of 125 m3 min-1 for parawood's thickness of about 30 mm, the moisture content of the parawood could be reduced from 40% (d.b.) to about 9.75% (d.b.) within 35 hrs while the conventional hot air dryer required the drying time of approximately 8-16 days. The physical structure of the parawood was also investigated by a prong test. The quality of dried parawood was not found to be different from those dried with the hot air drying method. © 2007 Science Publications.