STUDY ON CONCENTRATIONS OF ACIDS AND ALCOHOLS EMITTED BY PINUS RADIATA DURING HIGH-TEMPERATURE DRYING

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of kiln temperature, relative humidity and wood moisture content on the content of acid and alcohol released in the drying process of high temperature kiln by studying the radiated pine sawn timber of 40mm thickness. The drying temperature was between 101°C and 115°C, the relative humidity in the drying kiln was reduced from 86.1% to 39.6%, the moisture content of the lumber was reduced from 106.16% to 11.98%, and gas extraction was executed nine times with an extraction speed of 1.0 L•min-1 and a sampling time of 30 min. The concentrations of acids and alcohols were analyzed by HPLC. The results showed that the concentrations of formic acid, acetic acid, and methanol emitted in the kiln during drying were 215.6-748.2, 4148.8-16803.2, and 6381.9-15648.9 mg•m-3, respectively, and these concentrations were significantly higher than the relevant standards. The concentrations of the emitted formic acid and acetic acid were proportional to the drying temperature, the concentrations of the emitted formic acid and acetic acid were inversely proportional to the relative humidity in the kiln and the moisture content of the lumber. The concentration of the emitted methanol was independent of the drying temperature, relative humidity in the kiln, and moisture content of the lumber. It is therefore suggested that formic acid, acetic acid, and methanol be separately recovered during the high-temperature drying of Pinus radiata lumber.

Applying Mixture of Municipal Incinerator Bottom Ash and Sewage Sludge Ash for Ceramic Tile Manufacturing

Municipal incinerator bottom ash (MIBA) and sewage sludge ash (SSA) are secondary wastes produced from municipal incinerators. Landfills, disposal at sea, and agricultural use have been the major outlets for these secondary wastes. As global emphasis on sustainability arises, many have called for an increasing reuse of waste materials as valuable resources. In this study, MIBA and SSA were mixed with clay for ceramic tile manufacturing in this study. Raw materials firstly went through TCLP (Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure) to ensure their feasibility for reuse. From scanning electron microscopy (SEM), clay’s smooth surface was contrasted with the porous surface of MIBA and SSA, which led to a higher water requirement for the mixing. Specimens with five MIBA mix percentages of 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% (wt) and three SSA mix percentages of 0%, 10%, and 20% (wt) were made to compare how the two waste materials affected the quality of the final product and to what extent. Shrinkage tests showed that MIBA and SSA contributed oppositely to tile shrinkage, as more MIBA reduced tile shrinkage, while more SSA encouraged tile shrinkage. However, as the kiln temperature reached 1150 °C, the SiO2-rich SSA adversely reduced the shrinkage due to the glass phase that formed to expand the tile instead. Both MIBA and SSA increased water tile absorption and reduced its bending strength and wear resistance. Increasing the kiln temperature could effectively improve the water absorption, bending strength, and wear resistance of high MIBA and SSA mixes, as SEM showed a more compact structure at higher temperatures. However, when the temperature reached 1100 °C, more pores appeared and seemingly exhausted the benefit brought by the higher temperature. Complex interactions between kiln temperature and MIBA/SSA mix percentage bring unpredictable performance of tile shrinkage, bending strength, and water absorption, which makes it very challenging to create a sample meeting all the specification requirements. We conclude that a mix with up to 20% of SSA and 5% of MIBA could result in quality tiles meeting the requirements for interior or exterior flooring applications when the kiln temperature is carefully controlled.

Investigation of the Robust Absolute Stability of the Tunnel Kiln Control System with Delay

The paper considers the system of automatic control of the tunnel kiln temperature conditions. The investigation of a delay influence on the transition process has been carried on. The transfer function of the object under control with interval coefficients taking into account possible effects of the parametric uncertainty has been obtained. A graphical method of representing the obtained results in the form of displaying the modified amplitude-phase characteristics on a complex plane has been applied which obviously demonstrates a robust absolute stability of the system under investigation. The simulation performed in the Matlab environment has proved the correctness of the results obtained.

Composite Design of Low Thermal Conductivity Mullite Brick for Application to Cement Kiln

In order to restrain cement kiln shell’s thermal loss and potential safety hazard, composite design is employed of working layer, thermal-preservation layer and thermal insulation layer. Thermal-preservation layer’s boundary and strain is analyzed and overall thermal conductivity is calculated. The result shows that sinusoidal curve boundary combination between working layer and thermal-preservation layer, slopeshape with angle of 135 degrees between thermal-preservation layer and thermal insulation layer could relieve strain concentration. Composite mullite brick comprehensive thermal conductivity decreases from the working layer 2.74W·m-1·K-1 to 1.50W·m-1·K-1. When applied in cement kiln, temperature of kiln shell is lower 50°C to 70°C than using normal bricks.