subject: Wood Drying Kilns And Related Machine [print this page] The effluent produced during the wood drying kilns process or during cleaning of the kilns creates a potential environmental hazard when discharged into rivers, lakes or other natural surroundings. States have therefore begun to ban or consider banning the discharge of water from the operation of kilns into the environment. As a result, wood drying kiln facilities are faced with the prospect of shutting down for lack of a solution to the problem of disposing of kiln water.
Wood drying equipment plants have also generally suffered from an inability to provide uniformly dried products ready for planing or other processing. In particular, the moisture content in the individual lumber products is not uniform. Consequently, the time needed to dry each individual piece of wood varies from piece to piece. Nevertheless, for production purposes, the entire stack of wood is heated for a single predetermined time. As a result, some of the wood drying kilns becomes over dry and suffers from cracking, warping, etc.
The present invention pertains to a wood drying kilns system which eliminates the discharge of kiln water and enhances the quality of the wood product. In particular, the kiln water is gathered into a collection basin. An evaporator is fluidly coupled to the collection basin to convert the collected water to steam which is introduced into the kiln and harmlessly vented to the atmosphere. In this way, the effluent is safely eliminated without any discharge of the water as a liquid. Further, the use of steam in the kiln balances the drying of the wood so as to avoid splitting, warping, etc. of the lumber products.
