..... Olufemi, Akindeni, Olaniran: Lumber Recovery Efficiency among Selected Sawmills... DRVNA INDUSTRIJA 63 (1) 15-18 (2012) 15 Babatola Olufemi, Joseph Olalekan Akindeni, Samuel Oluyinka Olaniran Lumber Recovery Efficiency among Selected Sawmills in Akure, Nigeria Iskorištenje drvne sirovine u promatranim pilanama područja Akure u Nigeriji Original scientific paper • Izvorni znanstveni rad Received – prispjelo: 8. 3. 2011. Accepted – prihvaćeno: 9. 2. 2012. UDK: 630*832.15 doi:10.5552/drind.2012.1111 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 SAŽETAK • Istraživanje je provedeno s ciljem da se ustanovi iskorištenje drvne sirovine u odabranim pilanama u području Akure. Mjerenja su provedena prije i nakon obrade trupaca kako bi se utvrdio obujam proizvedenih piljenica i drvnih ostataka u promatranim pilanama. Rezultati istraživanja pokazali su da je iskorištenje trupaca u obliku piljenica 56,08 %, dok je udio drvnih ostataka bio 43,92 %. Od 43,92 % drvnih ostataka 34,39 % su okorci, a 9,53 % je piljevina. Istraživanja su pokazala da je učinkovitost istraživanih pilana veća od rezultata prethodnih studija. Pretpostavlja se da iskorištenje trupaca može biti i veće ako se drvni ostaci u obliku okoraka prerade u određene drvne proizvode koji imaju tržišnu vrijednost. Ključne riječi: pilane, iskorištenje drvne sirovine, drvni ostaci, trupci 1 Authors are professor and assistants at Department of Forestry and Wood Technology, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria. 1 Autori su profesor i asistenti Odsjeka za šumarstvo i drvnu tehnologiju Federalnoga tehnološkog sveučilišta, Akure, Nigerija. 1 INTRODUCTION 1. UVOD The sawmilling industry in Nigeria is dominated by small scale and privately owned establishments. They are mostly concentrated in the city usually regar- ded as the centre of activity. Alviar (1993) reported that these sawmills have individual production capacities of about 500 cubic meters of lumber per year while they number well over 1500 across the country. A re- cord by Ondo State Department of Forestry (2007) re- vealed that there are 311 registered sawmill complexes across the state with more than 50 % concentrated in the state capital. The first sawmill in the state was esta- blished in 1909 (Adewale, 1988) and since then the form and sizes of the available logs have reduced con- siderably (Lucas, 1990). While the form is poorer, the sizes are smaller and the population of merchantable timber in the country-owned forest has started decli- ning in recent times (Malami, 2010). This is due to the growing demand for sawn timber in the furniture and building industries. To meet this demand, an appropria- te sawmilling practice that encourages high lumber re- covery rate is required. This situation demands con-