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KILN DRYING IMPACT ON
CLIMATE CHANGEC H A R L E S D. R AY
T H E P E N N S Y LVA N I A S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y
WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?
“New England Forestry Foundation is working to address climate
change with a three-pronged, tree-friendly effort:
• We’re working to make sure that forests are put to work in the
best possible way to minimize the extent and impacts of climate
change,
• We’re working to pilot the best approaches to addressing
climate change on our own lands, and
• We’re trying to make sure forest landowners have the
information they need to manage their forests well in the face of
climate change.”
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http://newenglandforestry.org/2017/12/07/neff-takes-on-climate-change
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Milota, “Emissions from Wood Drying” (2000)
THESE WERE EMISSIONS IN 2000
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Milota, “Emissions from Wood Drying” (2000)
OZONE WAS THE CONCERN BACK THEN
Milota, “Emissions from Wood Drying” (2000)
CO2 WAS NOT A POLLUTANT, UNTIL…
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“An Inconvenient Truth” - 2006
“An Inconvenient Truth” - 2006
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Original “hockey stick” temperature graph in Nature, 1998. The Y
axis shows the Northern hemisphere mean temperature, in degrees
Celsius; the zero line corresponds to the 1902 – 1980 mean. Credit:
"Global-scale Temperature Patterns and Climate Forcing over the
Past Six Centuries," by Michael E. Mann et al. in Nature, Vol. 392,
April 23, 1998
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Data source: U.S. EPA, 2016
CO2 DWARFS ALL OTHER “POLLUTANTS”
“ANTHROPOGENIC” CO2
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CO2 DECREASE IN U.S. IS ALMOST ENTIRELY DUE TO NATURAL GAS
PRODUCTION
Energy Usage is holding steady, but transitioning away from
coal, so CO2 emissions are dropping.
Petroleum consumption slightly dropping, Natural gas increasing
and coal decreasing due to power plant conversion.
AND POWER PLANTS ARE THE KEY
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USA17%
China11%
Canada11%
Russia8%Germany
5%
Sweden 4%
Brazil3%
Others41%
World Lumber Production
Source:
http://www.fao.org/forestry/statistics/80938@180723/en/
Source: Howard and Westby, US Forest Products Laboratory,
Research Paper FPL–RP–676
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Bergman and Bowe, “Environmental Impact of Producing Hardwood
Lumber Using Life-Cycle Inventory” (2007)
Dry Kiln Emission Softwood ‐West Softwood ‐ South
Hardwood Total U.S. LumberCO2 kg/mbf (biomass) 302
498 753
CO2 kg/mbf (fossil) 117 77 245
Total CO2 emissions kg/mbf 419 575
998Annual Board Feet Production bf
15,000,000,000 15,000,000,000 10,000,000,000 40,000,000,000
Total CO2 emissions kg 6,285,000,000
8,625,000,000 9,979,200,000 24,889,200,000
Biomass CO2 emissions kg 4,530,000,000
7,470,000,000 7,532,800,000 19,532,800,000
Fossil fuel CO2 emissions kg 1,755,000,000
1,155,000,000 2,446,400,000
5,356,400,000Total CO2 emissions metric tons
6,285,000 8,625,000 9,979,200
24,889,200Biomass CO2 emissions metric tons
4,530,000 7,470,000 7,532,800
19,532,800Fossil fuel CO2 emissions metric tons
1,755,000 1,155,000 2,446,400
5,356,400Total CO2 emissions, % of US total CO2
emissions 0.11% 0.16% 0.18%
0.45%Biomass CO2 emissions, % of US total CO2 emissions
0.08% 0.14% 0.14% 0.36%Fossil fuel
CO2 emissions, % of US total CO2 emissions
0.03% 0.02% 0.04% 0.10%
Source: Penn State Wood Operations Laboratory, 2018
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U.S. Down 12% from 2005
Lumber Drying
I M PAC T O F A 1 0 - M M B F D RY K I L N O P E R AT I O N
Softwood ‐West
Softwood ‐South Hardwood
CO2 emissions metric tons/mbf 0.42 0.58 1.00
CO2 emissions metric tons/mmbf 419 575 998
CO2 emissions metric tons/10 mmbf 4,190
5,750 9,979
A 10% increase in kiln efficiency (or 10% decrease in
production) would decrease CO2 emissions by about 998 tons per year
in a 10 million bf hardwood lumber operation!
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RECOMMENDATIONS FOR HARDWOOD SAWMILLS (BERGMAN AND BOWE,
2007)
• More on-site wood fuel consumption would produce less fossil
greenhouse gases.
• Increasing the level of air drying lumber, especially for
species where color is not a problem, prior to kiln drying would
lower the amount of energy required for the drying process.
Therefore improving air drying methods would lower energy use while
maintaining lumber quality and reduce the environmental impact of
hardwood lumber.
• Drying consumes the highest proportion of fuel. Decreasing
overall energy consumption by upgrading or overhauling existing old
and inefficient dry kiln facilities.
500 X
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S O W H AT I S T H E TOTA L P OT E N T I A L I M PAC T O F L U M
B E R K I L N D RY I N G O N G L O B A L C O 2 E M I S S I O N S A
N D C L I M AT E C H A N G E ?
Source: https://climateactiontracker.org
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Metric Quantity
Global Lumber Production, bf 235,294,117,647
Global CO2 Emissions
fromLumber Production, kg 146,407,058,824
Global CO2 Emissions from Lumber Production, metric tons
146,407,059Total Global CO2 Emissions from all sources, metric tons (2009, EIA/DOE)
30,398,000,000
Total CO2 Emissions from kiln drying, as % of Global Total
0.48%
S O W H AT I S T H E TOTA L I M PAC T O F L U M B E R K I L N D
RY I N G O N G L O B A L C O 2 E M I S S I O N S ?
Metric Quantity
10% Reduction in Global CO2 Emissions from Lumber Production, metric tons
14,640,706Tons CO2 annual reductionnecessary to decrease global warming 1 degree C by 2100
About 50,000,000,000
Percentage
of necessary CO2 reduction achievable by kiln operators, 10% improvement in efficiency
15/50,000, or 0.03%Possible temperature change
due to 10% increase in lumber kiln drying efficiency, globally
‐0.03 degrees C
S O W H AT I S T H E TOTA L P OT E N T I A L I M PAC T O F L U M
B E R K I L N D RY I N G O N G L O B A L C L I M AT E C H A N G E
?
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TAKE-AWAYS• Lumber dry kilns produce about 0.45% of all U.S.
(0.48% globally)
anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Only about ¼ of that 0.45% (or,
0.10% of all) is “additional” CO2 from fossil fuel combustion…the
rest is “carbon neutral” CO2 from wood combustion
• These numbers assume all lumber production is kiln-dried in
biomass or fossil-fuel heated kilns; the actual percentages will be
different for air-dried, DH, Solar, Vacuum, etc.
• Hardwood kilns produce about 1 metric ton of CO2 per mbf, or
about 9,979 tons per 10 million bf. A 10% increase in kiln
efficiency (or 10% decrease in production) would decrease CO2
emissions by about 998 tons per year (or about 500 cars) in a 10
million bf operation.
TAKE-AWAYS• Fossil-fuel kilns contribute “additional” CO2 to the
atmosphere,
whereas biomass kilns contribute “carbon-neutral” CO2.
• Increased use of air-drying, pre-drying, and kiln upgrades
will decrease kiln-related CO2 emissions.
• If all lumber in the world was dried 10% more efficiently,
about 15 million fewer tons of CO2 would be released into the
atmosphere each year. This 15 million tons decrease would slow
global warming by 0.03 degrees C by the year 2100.