Catalytic Infrared Dehydration, 2001 Environmental Conference Proceedings

Virgil Macaluso--Flameless catalytic infrared technology was discovered and used during WWI. However, within the last twenty years, a proprietary catalyst has been developed that is tailored to the specific peak wavelengths of water and other organic materials. The process of dehydration using catalytic infrared technology won U.S. Patent No. 5,893,217 dated April 13, 1999.

In late 1998, interest developed in the catalytic infrared dehydration system for drying oriented strand board (OSB) flakes because of the advantages offered by low product temperature drying. Test results on OSB flakes demonstrated the following benefits.

* The virtual elimination of air pollutants including carbon monoxide (CO), NOx, methanol, and formaldehyde from the dehydration process.

* The ability to dry fines and flakes without incinerating or charring the fines allows the OSB producer to include up to 12% of the fines in the board product.

* The 10-15% of fines that are dried in a rotary dryer will produce as much as 35% of the VOC’s. Since catalytic IR dehydration occurs at temperatures under 149°C (300°F), VOC’s are virtually eliminated.

* Utilizing catalytic IR dehydration, 10-12% of the tree that is either incinerated or suitable only for fuel, can be utilized as part of the finished products.