Abstract
This study investigated the specific milling energy of rectangular pine ( Pinus sylvestris L.) boards using a new size reduction technology, which can produce fine wood powders in a single-step operation. Multilinear regression (MLR) analysis was used to model the milling energy of a multi-blade shaft mill through a designed series of experiments having three input parameters: the moisture content of the board, milling blade speed and board feeding speed. The observed specific milling energy ranged from 60 to 172 kWh t −1 [DM] and the MLR model showed it was proportional to the blade speed and the moisture content. The results suggest that multi-blade shaft milling is a two-dimension extension of singular circular blade milling with regard to work piece shape and sawblade teeth engagement effects. The findings were compared with the specific milling energy of pine logs obtained in a previous study. • Modelled specific milling energy is proportional to moisture content and blade speed. • Wood shape and shaft teeth engagement in two dimensions influence milling energy. • Multi-blade shaft milling is a two-dimension extension of singular circular blade milling. • MBSM milling is analogous to sawing wood and opposite to impact-based milling.
Highlights
With the resurgence of various wood-based applications in society and wood powder feedstock for bio-based industries, new size reduction technologies have the potential to improve utilisation by supplying better-suited wood powders for refining processes and products (Karinkanta et al, 2018)
As the multi-blade shaft mill (MBSM) uses a packed shaft of circular cutting blades, which can be viewed as a parallel combination of rotary-blade sawing processes, the observation that moisture content is negatively correlated to milling energy appeared reasonable in an earlier study
Specific milling energy decreased by 48 kWh tÀ1 [DM] over the full range of feeding speed (FS) variation
Summary
With the resurgence of various wood-based applications in society and wood powder feedstock for bio-based industries, new size reduction technologies have the potential to improve utilisation by supplying better-suited wood powders for refining processes and products (Karinkanta et al, 2018). A new size reduction technology, known as the multi-blade shaft mill (MBSM), has recently been assessed for the production of wood powders in a single-step milling operation from whole tree stems (Das et al, 2021). As the MBSM uses a packed shaft of circular cutting blades, which can be viewed as a parallel combination of rotary-blade sawing processes, the observation that moisture content is negatively correlated to milling energy appeared reasonable in an earlier study.
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