Kiln

From Open Source Ecology
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Overview

A kiln is a giant oven that enables the hardening, burning, drying, or firing of materials.

Easily constructed with CEB or Concrete, a Kiln serves a wide number of useful functions

  • Drying wood for firewood.
  • Heating wood to pyrolysis for Charcoal
  • Annealing, fusing, deforming, painting glass
  • Smelting ore to extract metal
  • Heating limestone with clay to make cement or quicklime.
  • Firing bricks from CEBs

Research

Wood Drying

A freshly felled tree cut into logs and run through the Sawmill will produce [Green Lumber]. While viable as a construction material in many applications, green lumber has a nasty habit of warping and shrinking over time (which can cause issues).

One approach toward addressing this is simple air drying. The lumber is stacked in a clean, cool, dry and shady area, atop raised foundations, with spacers (called stickers) laid crossways at regular intervals for ventilation. While air-drying Sawmill lumber is a viable option (and produces high-quality lumber), it is a process that can take months to years.

A kiln accelerates this process by rapidly heating and drying the lumber, enabling on demand fabrication of wood products.


Product Ecology

Kiln

Uses


Creates

  • Cement (when mixed with lime) for Concrete Mixer.
  • Lumber (dried)
  • Charcoal
  • Glassware
  • Metal (from ore)
  • Bricks (fired) from CEB

See Also

Wikipedia: Kiln] Wikipedia: Wood Drying