Kilowatts From Waste Wood In The Furniture Industry

In a typical furniture factory, up to 70% of all incoming lumber ends up as useless waste. Though burnable, its enormous volume far exceeds the fuel needs of the plant's steam supply system. The excess must go to scarce, costly landfill sites recently, the Singer Furniture Co., Lenoir, N. Carolina, purchased a 450 kilowatt steam turbine/induction generator set to use extra steam - produced by 'free' waste wood fuel - in generating 15% of the plant's electrical energy demand. The turbine profitably replaces the pressure reducing valve formerly used to lower steam pressure from 150 psig at the boiler to 20 psig for drying kilns. The first year's power bill savings will pay for the entire installation. Readily available, easily controlled, and simply protected, needing no excitation system or voltage regulator, the squirrel cage induction generator as used by Singer is ideal for industrial waste heat recovery