Potential for energy recovery from humid air streams

Technical Report · Mon Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1979

OSTI ID:5473607

Rosen, H N

A prime consideration of the forest products industry is to reduce energy consumption. Since the drying of wood accounts for over half the energy consumed in primary manufacturing of forest products, energy saved here could be substantial. Especially promising for recovery is the energy in the humid air exhausted from dryer vents. Currently, industry usually exhausts humid air from veneer and lumber dryers directly to the atmoshere without any attempt at recovery. The potential energy available for recovery needs to be determined before the modifications to existing equipment can be justified. The purpose of this paper is to calculate the energy recoverable from vent air streams over a range of dry bulb temperatures from 200 to 3400/sup 0/F and wet bulb temperatures from 100 to 212/sup 0/F. The vent air is assumed to pass through a recovery (regenerative) heat exchanger where heat is transferred to another liquid or gas stream for use elsewhere in the processing plant.

• Research Organization: Forest Service, St. Paul, MN (USA). North Central Forest Experiment Station
• OSTI ID: 5473607
• Report Number(s): USDA-NC-170
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
320304* -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Industrial & Agricultural Processes-- Waste Heat Recovery & Utilization
DRYERS
DRYING
EQUIPMENT
HEAT RECOVERY EQUIPMENT
INDUSTRY
WASTE HEAT UTILIZATION
WASTE PRODUCT UTILIZATION
WOOD PRODUCTS INDUSTRY