Moelven Valåsen is investing in capacity and quality with lumber kiln from Valutec
Moelven Valåsen is currently in an expansion phase. They will shortly be building a new line for small-dimension boards, when their annual production is estimated to increase from 159 million board feet to almost 212 million. The production increase will require investment in new kiln capacity, and here the choice fell to a TC continuous kiln from Sweden’s Valutec.
“We knew early on that we wanted a TC kiln, and Valutec is the only supplier to offer this type of kiln. It's a high-volume machine that’s also flexible. We'll be using it for our side-sawn boards, but there is also a potential for drying planks in it. The TC kiln also enables high quality drying for board, which will be all the more important in the future,” says Thomas Haglund, CEO at Moelven Valåsen.
Sustainability has long been a priority item on Moelven’s agenda, and high energy prices in recent times have led to a sharper focus on sustainable investments.
“Continuous drying, stainless steel frame, heat recovery and an energy efficient drying process make the continuous kiln the sustainable alternative. If, like Moelven, you also choose to equip it with the latest SynRM kiln motors, which thanks to lower bearing and winding temperatures have service lives that are between two and four times longer than standard motors and have lower carbon footprints, then I'd be bold enough to say you’ll have the market’s most sustainable lumber kiln,” says Eric Johansson, Head of Marketing at Valutec.
The investment also includes switching to Valutec’s Valmatics 4.0 kiln control system on all of Valåsen’s lumber kilns.
“By using Valmatics 4.0 in all of our kilns we free up important time for our kiln operators. Today, there are far too many manual interventions to keep the kilns working the way we want. The control system provides more stable kiln operation and a more accurate moisture content. You can bank on it,” says Lennart Karlström, Process Manager at Moelven Valåsen.
Assembly of the lumber kiln in Valåsen will begin in the summer of 2024, and Joakim Berglund, Head of Sales at Valutec is looking forward to the delivery:
“We have a great collaboration with Moelven, and I look forward to continue working with them to develop their drying capacity.”
With the investment in Moelven’s first TC kiln, Valåsen is following a clear trend in the world of sawmills. The new generation of Valutec TC kilns has been sold worldwide in recent years, opening up new markets for the company.
“What lies behind this technological leap is thousands of hours of development where we studied, evaluated, tested and invented new things in all parts of a sort of lumber kiln that, in its first form, was used as early as 1927”, says Joakim Berglund.
The big improvement is in the way to control temperature and airspeed individually in different zones using integrated simulator technology. Thanks to its development, the sawmill can choose with a high degree of freedom the dimensions of the lumber to be dried, something that has not previously been possible in a continuous kiln.
TC is the abbreviation of the Swedish for “cross circulation”. The principle is based on the lumber package being fed lengthways through zones in which the air circulates laterally across the drying channel. This enables the separate regulation of the climate in different zones according to a schedule that comes very close to the ideal schedule of a batch kiln.
For more information, contact:
Joakim Berglund
Sales Manager, Valutec
Tel: +46 (0)910 879 50
joakim.berglund@valutec.se
Thomas Haglund
CEO, Moelven Valåsen
Tel: 46 (0)10-122 54 00
thomas.haglund@moelven.se
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The desire to increase the use of wood is the ultimate reason for Valutec's existence. We have been combining Nordic expertise in lumber drying with a deep understanding of the challenges facing our customers for almost 100 years. Our goal is to expand opportunities not only for value-adding timber kilns, but also in intelligent control systems. The Valutec Group is a part of Addtech Industrial Solutions and has offices in Sweden, Finland and Canada and had a turnover of around EUR 61 million in 2021. With more than 6 000 timber drying installations delivered, we are a world leader. Find out more about our corporate philosophy "Good for wood" at valutec.ca.
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