Eucalyptus nitens is said to be the world's most hard-dried wood. It is fast growing, environmentally friendly and therefore common in large forest plantations. Following Alent's success with pump drying of Pinus Radiata in Chile, a 2-year project was initiated which was funded by EUREKA / Vinnova and Alent Dynamic in Sweden and CORFO, TSST Energy and CMPC in Chile to develop a method for industrial drying of Eucalyptus nitens.
A large number of Eucalyptus planks have been sawn in Chile and shipped with freezer freight to Luleå University of Technology in Skellefteå. There it has been dried in several batches, both conventional and with Alent's pump control. The research kiln in the picture has a CT scanner and one can follow what happens inside the wood during the drying. Conventional drying was rejected due to cracking and collapse while pumping showed promising phenomena that we could build on.
During the last year, several pump dryings were carried out on a full scale in one of CMPC's sawmills in Chile with remote control from Alent in Luleå with very good results. We expect that Eucalyptus will be pumped in many places around the world and that we will see floors, furniture and other products made from this beautiful wood.
More knowledge has been gained in the pump-drying method and some additions have been made in Alent's control system which now is useful in all kinds of wood drying.