I am currently working in Biomass in Iron and Steel Industry project.

One of the projects I was involved in, was broadcast by Australian Channel Ten TV on 25 August 2008, featuring my colleague Carboard Briquettes and coverage by the local press "King Island Courier" - file size 534 KB. Link for this research study Carboard Briquettes.

I am also involved with CSIRO co-ordinated Scientists in Schools program that promotes science education in primary and secondary schools (free of cost), helps to engage and motivate students in their learning of science, and broadens awareness of the types and variety of exciting careers available in the sciences. I have got a Certificate of Appreciation from Killester College, Melbourne.

I was selected and attended Science Meets Parliament program 2009 organised by Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies. As part of this program, I met two members of the House of Representatives at the Australian Parliament House to present about our research program.

Previous Employment

Just after submission of my Ph.D. thesis at the end of March 2002, I was offered a permanent research position at Forest Research (NZ Government's one of the Crown Research Institutes). After moving in NZ from Australia on 15 May 2002, my position title was Materials Scientist. My role was to generate the fundamental wood/moisture knowledge to allow the modeling and computer simulation of wood drying to optimise commercial processing of timber. I had to contribute in the development of prediction tools, mathematical models and software using chemical and process engineering knowledge for application in high temperature drying kilns for timber processing industries. I needed to develop and expand models to explain the behaviour of solid wood and biofibre-based composite panel products when exposed to changing environmental conditions in service. I utilised advanced material knowledge to optimise commercial processes for the manufacture of wood-based products. I needed to provide support to other fundamental and applied research projects, within and outside the Drying Group in New Zealand Forest Research Institute.

From July 2004, NZ Forest Research Institute (rebranded as Scion) and Australian CSIRO Forestry & Forest Products Division formed a joint venture Ensis. I was Seconded to work at ensis Australia, Clayton, Melbourne Site of CSIRO FFP from 1st April 2005 to 3rd July 2007.

Major Products of Drying Group:

Dryspec: Popular commercial kiln-control software used by softwood timber processing companies in Australia, NZ, Chile, South Africa and elsewhere.

Dryline: Moisture end-point determination software used by softwood timber processing companies in Australia, NZ, Chile, South Africa and elsewhere.

Dryspec & Dryline have been developed and supported by Forest Research and marketted by Windsor Engineering Group Ltd based in Wellington.

MContent: Moisture content analysis software.

Multiclient Drying Group: Industries from Australia, NZ, Chile, North America, Africa, Europe support this research group. Industries select topic and we report results of research projects twice a year.

Drying Modelling & Simulation: One or Two Dimensional Single-Board Drying models and Kiln-model can be used to assess process variables applied in Kiln drying. These models were originally developed by Professor Roger Keey and Associate Professor Shusheng Pang (a former FR Scientist) currently at the University of Canterbury with contributions from Associate Professor Tim Langrish at the University of Sydney.

This is for information only and is not official release of Ensis. Please use following link to access more information about drying research within ensis.

Click to Explore Research in Timber Drying at Ensis

I was an active member of the Environmental Engineering research group in Chemical Engineering department of Sydney University. I got some interest in LCA and I was interested to conduct research in this area. I wanted to apply LCA in wood processing and Forest Industry sector.

LIFE CYCLE ASSESMENT OF FOREST PRODUCTS

Life-Cycle Assessment is a process to evaluate the environmental burdens associated with a products, process, or activity by identifying and quantifying energy and materials used and wastes released to the environment; to assess the impact of those energy and material uses and releases to the environment; and to identify and evaluate opportunities to affect environmental improvements. The assessment includes the entire life-cycle of the product, process, or activity, encompassing extracting and processing raw materials; manufacturing; transportation and distribution; use, reuse, maintenance; recycling, and final disposal (Sociey of Environmental Toxicology And Chemistry, 1991).

Forest certification or timber certification issue has been a concern in the timber trade globally. Ecologically sustainable forest management has become an important issue recently. Forest has a significant role on the environment. Forests meet not only human needs like timber and other tangible products but also many intangible benefits and services. For example, soil and environmental conservation, carbon sequestration, wildlife, catchment protection, and maintaining water quality are some of examples of benefits and services that are difficult to measure in terms of monetary value. However, these values are important factors for managing forests. A component in forest certification is called “chain of custody” (a process by which the source of a timber product is verified). In order for products originating from certified sources (sustainably managed natural forests or plantations) to be eligible to carry some trademarks or labels, the timber has to be tracked from the forest through all the steps of the production process until it reaches the end user. Only when this tracking has been independently verified is the product eligible to carry the certified product logo or label. A complete labelling system is necessary for the products under stiffer environmental regulations and emerging market for certified products. Though it is rare to see this “chain of custody” concept being used in forestry companies recently, the trend is increasing in the international market. LCA methodology can be used as an effective tool in environmental decision making and in the certification process of forest products.

Click LCA application in Forestry presentation by Nawshad Haque - 144 KB

In the past decade my research interests were in the discipline of Forest Products Technology:

Conventional Kiln Drying (Low Temperature Drying of Hardwoods & High Temperature Drying of Softwoods)

Wood is a better material once it is dried. The main objective of timber drying is to reduce the moisture content of the material down to equilibrium with a particular environment, where it will eventually be used. The ultimate goal is to dry timber as quickly as possible with little or no defects. Timber drying has become an inevitable part of sawmlling industries to add value to their sawn products. According to a recent report, unseasoned hardwood that is sold at about $500/m³ or less, would increase in value to $1500/m³ or more after drying and processing. Though cost may increase by about 30-50% for drying and further processing, revenue may increase three times or more. However, current drying processes often result in significant quality problems from cracking, both externally and internally, reducing the value of the product. As an example, in Queensland alone, assuming that 10% of the dried softwood is devalued by $200/m³ because of drying defects, sawmillers are losing about $5 million per annum in that State alone. Australia-wide this could be $40 million per annum for softwood and an equal or higher amount for hardwood.

Industrial kiln drying has been popular in different parts of the world because of the faster throughput. However, good operating practice is very important in kiln drying. A thorough understanding of factors such as air circulation across the timber surface, air temperature, relative humidity of the air and wood structure is essential for producing distortion-free good-quality timber. When the timber is dried in a kiln, a moisture gradient is set up inside the timber as moisture from the innermost part comes gradually to the surface. The drying rate should be controlled to avoid steep moisture gradients. The steep moisture gradient between the core and the shell or case of the timber board causes excessive stresses, leading to various types of degradation in the wood.

Wood is a very complex substance from the structural point of view and variable in nature. Wood structure, biological variability, wood-moisture relationship and the flow of liquid and gases (fluid) through wood need to be well understood before applying a sequence of conditions for temperature and humidity (called a drying schedule) inside a drying kiln. Specific schedules should be used to control the temperature and humidity in accordance with the moisture and stress situation within the wood to minimise the shrinkage caused and other defects. Drying defects can be largely eliminated by good practice in kiln drying. There is a potential for the implementation of optimised drying schedule that can minimise the stresses while maximise the throughput. Research is in progress on optimised drying schedule.

My approach is to develop optimised schedule using modelling and simulation approach. A drying model is used to predict drying rate and a stress model is used to predict developed stress during drying. The optimisation program dries timber as fast as possible constrained by a stress below a limiting value. If the developed stress is above this value, wood is likely to develop surface & internal checks, warp, twist and other forms of degradation.

Optimised schedules developed using this method can be tested in the laboratory and after industrial trials, can be implemented on industrial scale. This method is novel and most quickest way to develop drying schedules and can reduce the amount of time, money and risk involved using traditional trial and error approach.

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SOLAR KILN DRYING

Solar Kiln Drying

Research has been conducted into solar kilns for timber drying in many countries around the world since the 1960s. This has led to the commercial use and availability of solar kilns in the timber industry over recent years. Current challenges for the Australian timber industry in the field of timber drying are to increase the productivity and to improve the quality of dried timber. The green moisture content of freshly-sawn eucalyptus boards (the most common hardwoods in Australia) is usually in the range of 55-90% (dry basis). Freshly sawn hardwood boards (38-50mm thick) are air-dried for about a year to reduce the moisture contents to 25-35%. The air-dried boards are finally dried in conventional kilns to 8-10% moisture content in a few days. Thus it is necessary to maintain a large timber stock for significantly long time. Though the cost of land rental is moderately large, the quality damage of boards during air-drying is substantial due to the lack of control over the process. On the other hand, drying of freshly-sawn impermeable hardwood boards in conventional kilns is not economically viable and quality control is difficult from the industrial point of view. In this context, it is necessary to look for alternative drying methods to replace air-drying practice with a reasonable cost for high productivity and better product quality. There is a growing interest in the use of solar kilns by the timber industry to accelerate the pre-drying stages for hardwoods, followed by the use of conventional kilns for final drying.

If you are interested for collaboration and/or sponsoring research on the assessment of SOLAR KILN DRYING in Australia or in tropical countries, please download my research proposal ResearchHaque.pdf (195 KB).

Creep and Mechanical Properties of Timber

Data on rheological or time-dependent properties are useful in predicting the behaviour of wood during drying processes. Earlier studies on wood rheology suffered from the limitations of not considering the effects of changing temperature and moisture content in sufficient detail. The determination of strain behaviour (instantaneous, visco-elastic, mechano-sorptive and free shrinkage strains) other mechanical and transport properties across the grain of timber during drying is necessary to predict the stress behaviour of wood under kiln drying conditions.

PUBLICATIONS

Please click for latest list of publications by Dr. Nawshad Haque Papers by Haque

1. Haque, M.N. and Sargent, R. (2008). Standard and superheated steam schedules for Radiata pine single-board drying: Model prediction and actual measurements. Drying Technology – An International Journal, 26(2):186-191.

2. Haque, M.N. (2007). Simulation of temperature and moisture content profiles in a Pinus radiata board during high-temperature drying. Drying Technology – An International Journal, 25(4):547-555.

3. Haque, M.N. (2007). Analysis of heat and mass transfer during high temperature drying of Pinus radiata. Drying Technology – An International Journal, 25(2):379-389.

4. Haque, N., Riley, S., Langrish, T.A.G. and Pang, S. (2007). Predicted effect of process variables on kiln drying of Pinus radiata. Drying Technology – An International Journal, 25(3):455-461.

5. Haque, M.N. and Langrish, T.A.G. (2005). Assessment of actual performance of an industrial solar kiln. Drying Technology - An International Journal, 23(7):1541-1553.

6. Haque, M.N. and Langrish, T.A.G. (2005). Mathematical modelling of solar kilns for drying timber: Model validation. Journal of the Institute of Wood Science, 16(6):342-367.

7. Haque, M.N. and Langrish, T.A.G. (2004). Mathematical modelling of solar kilns for drying timber: Model description. Journal of the Institute of Wood Science, 16(5):266-276.

8. Haque, N. and Langrish, T.A.G. (2004). Optimising drying schedules for hardwood in solar kilns. New Zealand Journal of Forestry Science, 34(3):354-369.

9. Haque, M.N. and Langrish, T.A.G. (2003). Mathematical modelling of solar kilns for drying timber: Literature review. Journal of the Institute of Wood Science, 16(4):230-231.

10. Haque, M.N. and Langrish, T.A.G. (2003). Mathematical modelling of solar kilns for drying timber: Model development and validation. Drying Technology -An International Journal, 21(3):457-477.

11. Haque, M.N. and Langrish, T.A.G. (2001). Stack-wide effects in the modelling of solar kilns for drying timber. Drying Technology -An International Journal, 19(1):99-114.

12. Haque, M.N. and Hill, C.A.S. (2000). Chemical modification of model compounds, wood flour and fibre with acetic anhydride. Journal of the Institute of Wood Science, 15(3):109-115.

13. Haque, M.N., Langrish,  T.A.G., Keep,  L-B. and Keey,  R.B. (2000). Model fitting for visco-elastic  creep of Pinus radiata during kiln drying. Wood Science and Technology, 34(5):447-457.

14. Haque, M.N. and Hill, C.A.S. (1998).  Chemical modification of wood flour and fibre with acetic anhydride. Journal of the Timber Development Association of India, 44(3):25-33.

15. Ilias, G.N.M.,  Kanapathipillai,  V.S., Huda,  M.D., Haque,  M.N. and Islam,  M.N. (1996).  Assessment of the preservation techniques of wooden electric power transmission poles in Bangladesh.  Journal of the Timber Development Association of India, 42(2):20-26.

16. Haque, M.N. and Kamaluddin, M. (1995). Growth, standing volume of Dalbergia sissoo and selection methods for its genetic improvement. Chittagong University Studies -Science, 19(1):121-126.

17. Haque, M. N., Abdul  Khalil,  H.P.S.  and Hill, C.A.S.  (2002). Chemical   modification  of  wood  flour  and  thermo-mechanical  pulp fibre with acetic anhydride. Journal of Fibres and Composites, Vol (1).