Recent progress in solar wood drying: An updated review

Abstract

In this work, an updated review of solar wood drying is presented. Experimental investigations, numerical studies and recent patents on the solar wood drying process were reviewed. The review outlines the different techniques for solar drying of wood with or without the use of thermal energy storage materials. From the review study, about 63% of published works are research papers and only a few review papers were available. A review of the numerical study aspect showed that most models were based on the simplified lumped modeling approach where several physical phenomena were ignored. However, the complex aspect of wood drying should be studied and could be modeled successfully using a new approach such as a multi-physical modeling method instead of a simplified lumped modeling approach. Therefore, more experimental and numerical studies are needed and should also consider the environmental impact and the economic viability of these solar systems.