Lumber Recovery Efficiency among Selected Sawmills in Akure, Nigeria

Abstract

This study was carried out to investigate the efficiency of lumber recovery among selected sawmills in Akure metropolis. Measurements were carried out before and after log conversion to estimate the volume of sawn timber and wood residues generated from the selected sawmills. The outcome of the research revealed that 56.08 % of the log input was recovered as sawn timber while 43.92 % was left as wood residues. From the 43.92 % of wood residue, 34.39 % was left as slab while 9.53 % was left as saw dust. This finding showed that the efficiency of these mills was comparably higher than the results from earlier studies. It is believed that the yield could still be improved by channeling the residues in the form of slabs to other valuable products.

Keywords

• sawmills
• lumber recovery
• wood residue
• logs