Thermal Wood

[serg]

Hello, friends!
I worked on the project "Termovak -25" for two years and completed it. I can dry the wood from moisture 60% and instantly dry wood to heat treatment. In the month of a 100 m3 of roundwood or 4 baths.


Sergey

[StephenRice]

Sergey,

In your pictures, I first noticed the picture with the pine logs.  In that picture, I also noticed a tower near the other end of the drying tube with a conveyor running to it.  So then, I started to think that, somewhere out of the picture frame, there may have been a cyclone biomass burner or other type of furnace supplying heat to these chambers.  But, I did not see an exit vent for the heat. 

Then in some of the other chambers, it appeared that the chambers utilized a vacuum or other type of pressure lid or cap.  So, are these vacuum chambers?  Or, are they heating chambers?  Since I did not notice any sort of steam or water jackets on the tubes, I wonder how it could be both. 

I am just trying to figure out how the heat is applied to break down the cellulosic wall structures and the sugars without destroying the structure of the wood itself.  I have an acquaintance that has pioneered an acid hydrolysis process to extract ethanol from cellulosic waste, but I believe his output materials amount to nearly useless sludge.  Also, others use thermal gasification, but that leaves nothing resembling lumber either. 

That leaves me to wonder if this thermal wood project is a pyrolysis process where you or others are using vacuum to remove oxygen from the chambers while somehow heating them up considerably in order to prevent the oxidation or burning of the wood? That would kill any wood-destroying microorganisms as well as possibly thermally induce a chemical reaction to the sugars in the wood.  Am I understanding your process fairly accurately then?

[serg]

StephenRice
Yes, you understand my procces correctly.
Sergey

[StephenRice]

I was thinking some more, and a simple vacuum could not remove enough oxygen from the chambers, could it?  Do you inject nitrogen, argon, or some other inert gas to displace the oxygen in the internal chamber atmosphere?  Also, how is the heat introduced to the vacuum chambers?

[Den Socling]

Stephen,

A liquid ring vacuum pump can remove enough oxygen to eliminate burning. And Sergey has a design that uses pipes on the inside and a condenser top center that produces convection. At least that is the setup he uses for his vacuum kilns.

Den

[StephenRice]

Stephen,

A liquid ring vacuum pump can remove enough oxygen to eliminate burning. And Sergey has a design that uses pipes on the inside and a condenser top center that produces convection. At least that is the setup he uses for his vacuum kilns.

Den

I have been doing some more research and it seems that much of the thermal wood modification that is being done commercially now is using nitrogen to help displace the oxygen in the vacuum chambers.  Not positive about Sergey's setup though.

Also, is not the condenser that is on top of the vacuum chamber used to condense the water vapor that is drawn out of the wood  for the purpose of pumping it out and preventing the vapor from re-entering the chamber and not for heating?  That is what the schematics I have seen online last night have shown.  Again, not sure exactly in regards to Sergey's rig.

Also, it seems that most of the commercial thermal wood modification rigs use at least a 2-3 step process, some 4 step.  One of those steps was to rehydrate the wood to a usable level with steam.  Some of the companies used the water previously removed from the wood to rehydrate the lumber.

Another thing that I learned last night was that much of the thermal wood from dry processes tended to not hold paint as well afterward.  However, there is a different style of thermal wood modification that heats the wood up in an oil bath.  The resulting wood lost less pliability than the other thermally modified wood and it held paint much better afterwards.  Has anyone here seen or know anything about that process?  It seemed very simple, quite honestly.

[ljmathias]

Wow! That oil bath heat treatment goes by another name here in the Deep South: deep fried turkeys (or chickens, or ducks or worst of all, a turducken).  Real hot oil, through in what you want to cook- if the oil is hot enough, it seals the outside and prevents oil from getting in- no greasy aftertaste.

See, we did turn this thread to food finally.  I was wondering what was wrong with you all@

;D

Lj

[StephenRice]

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing!  But, believe it or not, they basically cook the wood in an oil bath of rapeseed (canola) oil, sunflower oil, or linseed oil at a temperature of 380 to 450 degrees Fahrenheit for 2-4 hours.  The oil itself shields the wood from oxygen, the heat crystalizes the lignin, cellulose, and hemi-cellulose, killing all wood-eating microorganisms, releasing the sugar alcohols, and sealing the cellular structures by swelling the cell walls and thus protecting against further attack.

No vacuum is needed, and the water based acrylic finishes will stick to the wood treated this way even better than to wood modified in heated vacuum chambers.

[serg]

Den.
Thank you for your understanding of the process.
I do not use gas, I have a pair of tree it is a protective environment from burning. I am working up to 180 - 190 grams with the rest used a temperature above 230 g S. Wood is black. I can do a different color using the high wood moisture and temperature. From light to black.
Without the quality of drying is not the quality of thermo! All use the term with separate drying chambers. Example of oak can be dried thickness of 52 mm 60-90 days in vacuum 20 - 28 days and in the same cell to the terms. Installed power 250 kW of competitors on the volume of 6 m3 boot my installation of thermal capacity of 12 m3 with a 18 kW. Price competition 250 000 $ 6 m3 separate dryer convective price 65 000 $, my installation of 12 m3 is two times cheaper than thermal vacuum drying of two technologies in one.
See other technologies. Each technology has its thermal life.
www.thermowood.fi
www.thermory.com
www.platowood.nl
www.retiwood.com
www.menz-holz.de
www.mirako.at
www.vacuums.ru
www.termoderevo.ru
I made a conclusion - the future of thermowood!

Thermo oak, beech, acacia, ash. Beautiful! Make protection from ultraviolet and parquet eternal.

Sergey

[serg]

I did experience the pine logs and the usual terms. Normal logs of pine covered with mold and fungus. Thermo log nothing, the geometry is stable. Waste thermal pine went for firewood.
The experience made from May to September 2010.
Sergey.

[serg]

Hello!
I made a new schedule for drying thermal timber diameter of 250 - 280 mm period of 240 hours W= 4 %. Sawed timber, logs for the house.
Sergey