Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

3D finite heat transfer method to optimize a hot air convective system for phytosanitary treatment of wood pallets

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Energy, Ecology and Environment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This work presents the development, experimental validation, and application of a control volume element model of 3D finite heat transfer method to optimize a new convective heat system for phytosanitary treatment of wood pallets. A new treatment system consisting of a heat-recovering design for exhaust gases from a distillery boiler is presented. The 3D spatial domains are discretized with hexahedral blocks to modeling and optimize the operational parameters when block-type pallets are treated. Accordingly, an energy balance is applied and the resulting system of differential equations is discretized in time domain to obtain the spatiotemporal temperature profile in the pallet block as critical geometry. The 3D model is adjusted by correlating simulated with experimental data. Overall heat transfer coefficients are obtained. Temperature and treatment time are optimized. Optimal conditions are found for the studied system with air temperature at 80 °C and 137 min treatment time. The thermal efficiency of the new treatment system is found as 9.14% and the index of energy consumption is 0.37 kWh with a cost of 0.53 € per treated pallet at the studied conditions. The economic feasibility of the new treatment system is discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allen E, Noseworthy M, Ormsby M (2017) Phytosanitary measures to reduce the movement of forest pests with the international trade of wood products. Biol Invasions 19(11):3365–3376

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bedelean B (2018) Application of artificial neural networks and Monte Carlo method for predicting the reliability of RF phytosanitary treatment of wood. Eur J Wood Wood Prod 76(4):1113–1120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bergman TL, Bergman TL, Incropera FP, Dewitt DP, Lavine AS (2011) Fundamentals of heat and mass transfer. Wiley, Hoboken

    Google Scholar 

  • Deviatkin I, Khan M, Ernst E, Horttanainen M (2019) Wooden and plastic pallets: a review of life cycle assessment (LCA) studies. Sustainability 11(20):5750

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Erchiqui F, Kaddami H, Slaoui-Hasnaoui F, Koubaa A (2020) 3D finite element enthalpy method for analysis of phytosanitary treatment of wood by microwave. Eur J Wood Wood Prod 78(3):577–591

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frąś J, Olsztyńska I, Scholz S (2018) Standardization and certification of the wooden packaging in international trade. Res Logist Prod 8:25–37

    Google Scholar 

  • Herrera-Díaz R, Sepúlveda-Villarroel V, Pérez-Peña N, Salvo-Sepúlveda L, Salinas-Lira C, Llano-Ponte R, Ananías RA (2018) Effect of wood drying and heat modification on some physical and mechanical properties of radiata pine. Dry Technol 36(5):537–544

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hughes KA, Misiak M, Ulaganathan Y, Newsham KK (2018) Importation of psychrotolerant fungi to Antarctica associated with wooden cargo packaging. Antarct Sci 30(5):298–305

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ingersoll LR, Zobel OJ, Ingersoll AC (1948) Heat conduction, with engineering and geological applications. McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Jeffers AE (2013) Heat transfer element for modelling the thermal response of non-uniformly heated plates. Finite Elem Anal Des 63:62–68

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Kim KJ, Ryu JA, Eom TJ (2019) Characteristics of the heat treated wood packaging materials according to international standards for phytosanitary measures and verifiability of heat treatment. Wood Res 64(4):647–658

    Google Scholar 

  • Kumar D, Mahanta P, Kalita P (2020) Energy and exergy analysis of a natural convection dryer with and without sensible heat storage medium. J Energy Storage. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.est.2020.101481

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar D, Mahanta P, Kalita P (2021) Performance analysis of a solar air heater modified with zig-zag shaped copper tubes using energy-exergy methodology. Sustain Energy Technol Assess 46:101222. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seta.2021.101222

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar D, Mahanta P, Kalita P (2022) Performance analysis of a novel biomass-fired grain dryer integrated with thermal storage medium. Biosys Eng 216:65–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2022.02.001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacLean JD (1941) Thermal conductivity of wood. Heating, piping & air conditioning, Madison

    Google Scholar 

  • Nithiarasu P, Lewis RW, Seetharamu KN (2016) Fundamentals of the finite element method for heat and mass transfer. Wiley, Hoboken

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Park J, Horvath L, Bush RJ (2018) Life cycle inventory analysis of the wood pallet repair process in the United States. J Ind Ecol 22(5):1117–1126

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pawson SM, Bader MF, Brockerhoff EG, Heffernan WJB, Kerr JL, O’Connor B (2019) Quantifying the thermal tolerance of wood borers and bark beetles for the development of Joule heating as a novel phytosanitary treatment of pine logs. J Pest Sci 92(1):157–171

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pawson SM, Kerr JL, Somchit C, Wardhaugh CW (2020) Flight activity of wood-and bark-boring insects at New Zealand ports. N Z J for Sci. https://doi.org/10.33494/nzjfs502020x132x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, X. (2021). Heat sterilization of wood. In: Chapter 20 in FPL-GTR-282, pp 20–1

  • Yang S, Pilet TJ, Ordonez JC (2018) Volume element model for 3D dynamic building thermal modelling and simulation. Energy 148:642–661

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the VLIR-UOS project between Belgium and Cuba for providing funding and granting the support of the current and future studies.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Santiago de Cuba Rum Factory, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba

    Fredy Fong Casas

  2. Centre of Neurosciences Signal and Images Processing, Applied Acoustic Research Group, Universidad de Oriente, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba

    Harold Crespo Sariol

  3. Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universidad de Oriente, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba

    Ángel Sánchez Roca

  4. Department of Project Management for Sugar Cane Industry (IPROYAZ), Santiago de Cuba, Cuba

    José Lassalle Dieguez

  5. Analytical and Circular Chemistry, Hasselt University, Agoralaan, Building D, 3590, Diepenbeek, Belgium

    Jan Yperman, Dries Vandamme & Robert Carleer

Authors
  1. Fredy Fong Casas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Harold Crespo Sariol
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ángel Sánchez Roca
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. José Lassalle Dieguez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Jan Yperman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Dries Vandamme
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Robert Carleer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

FFC, HCS, and ÁSR conceived and designed the phytosanitary treatment system and wrote the paper; FFC and JLD performed the experiments; FFC, HCS, ÁSR, JY, DV, and RC analyzed the data.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jan Yperman.

Ethics declarations

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Supplementary Information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (DOCX 30 kb)

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Fong Casas, F., Crespo Sariol, H., Sánchez Roca, Á. et al. 3D finite heat transfer method to optimize a hot air convective system for phytosanitary treatment of wood pallets. Energ. Ecol. Environ. 8, 273–287 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40974-023-00275-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40974-023-00275-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation