Sawmills need relatively high amounts of thermal energy for drying and heating the buildings.
Normally, the drying process uses warm water or steam whose thermal energy is transferred through heat exchangers to the kiln air. The drying itself is carried out by heating the air in the kiln.
The specific consumption of heat, which shows how much thermal energy is needed to remove one litre of water from timber [kJ/kg H2O], is the best way to describe kiln thermal economy. The typical heat energy consumption rate is 200–400kWh per dried cubic meter of timber.
