IMPORTANCE OF WOOD DRYING TO THE FOREST TRANSPORT AND PULP MILL SUPPLY

Abstract

The forest transportation represents a great proportion of raw material cost for pulp and paper production and, for this reason, the wood moisture content should be low to reduce these cost. The objective was to relate the wood moisture with fuel consumption per kilometer in each vehicle and the number of trips to supply a pulp mill. Three trees of Eucalyptus urophylla clone and three of Corymbia citriodora from seeds were used. These trees were felled and their logs removed from its base and at 50 and 100% of the commercial height. The basic density and initial moisture of wood were determined and the air drying monitored during 90 days. The fuel consumption to transport one ton of dry wood and the number of trips required to supply a pulp mill were estimated based on the number of air drying days. Air drying reduced the fuel consumption and the number of trips to supply the pulp mill. The accuracy of models to estimate the wood moisture, fuel consumption and the number of trips based in days of drying was high. Therefore, wood drying is an essential tool to reduce forest transport costs.