Italian Drying Group, with two brands of lumber kilns and drying systems, Incomac and Nardi, has more than 50 years of experience supplying technology for drying, steaming, and heat-treating wood. Based in Montebelluna in northern Italy, it has more than 25,000 kilns installed and supplies service and remote support to customers on five continents, including North America, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Brazil, and Japan; service and support is provided by an affiliated business unit, Incotech. In North America the company has 75 customers.

The company’s new DK201 dry kiln reflects synergy between Incomac and Nardi. It features walls with an enhanced thickness of 140 mm, insulated with rock wool, that significantly reduces energy consumption. The suspended ceiling is equipped with movable flaps, an engineering solution designed to ensure uniform heat distribution, essential for lumber quality and to reduce cycle times. The air recirculation system, enhanced by circular-section ducts and ducted fans, significantly improves heat exchange, ensuring efficient and constant circulation across the entire load.

Italian Drying Group offers conventional drying kilns, powered with heat transfer fluid from a biomass boiler or gas or diesel heating, heat-pump condensing plants, powered 100 percent by electricity, and hybrid drying systems that combine a heat pump with conventional systems. Kilns can be customized – front loading, tunnel type, or movable chambers – and can treat every type of wood, including pallets. They are also supplied completely turnkey and equipped with technologies to optimize the drying process, maximising performance and minimising energy consumption. Every kiln is designed and made for high structural and functional strength, reducing extraordinary maintenance, spare-part replacement and ensuring long life.

One of the group’s North American clients is a long-established family-owned company specializing in the production of posts, round timber, and laminated wood products. The company chose Italian Drying Group for the drying of Southern Yellow Pine and Douglas Fir, recognizing that the Italian group offers technologies and engineering solutions not commonly available on the North American market.

An installation of 12 Nardi kilns for drying softwood.

According to Giancarlo Bontempo, Italian Drying Group export area manager for North America, the client particularly appreciated the combination of advanced engineering, build quality, and customization capabilities. “Our approach focuses on providing premium drying technologies, with particular attention to energy efficiency, process reliability, and long-term durability,” he explained.

The proposed solution included a series of tunnel dryers equipped with indirect gas burners. The tunnel dryers are specifically designed to reduce loading and unloading times: the stacks of lumber are placed on carts that slide along tracks, making the system particularly suitable for drying large volumes of lumber and for drying pallets.

“We are also able to customize small-capacity systems,” added Bontempo. “Many of our solutions incorporate technical features rarely found in North America, such as indirect gas heating systems and tubular fan technology designed to improve airflow uniformity and thermal efficiency.”

The wood drying process must necessarily take into account the differences of species, especially their physical-mechanical properties: strength, hardness, stiffness, and density. Understanding the properties is essential for optimally controlling all the drying parameters, including temperature, humidity, and ventilation. Optimal drying conditions are essential to ensuring satisfactory results: preserving the wood’s structural and aesthetic characteristics.

Italian Drying Group offers various types of kilns and drying systems under the Nardi brand. Nardi was founded in 1974 and has installed over 14,000 systems, including kilns, vaporizers, and pre-dryers.

The DK201K dryer is powered by a thermal fluid heated by special heat exchangers with bimetallic finned tubes. The DK201B model is powered by natural gas, LPG, diesel, or renewable energy, a system that features a burner providing direct heating, eliminating the need for an external boiler. The DK201T tunnel dryers are designed to reduce loading/unloading times. The DK201M dryer features mobile cells that represent a technologically advanced solution: the cells move directly above the wood, thus speeding up loading and unloading operations.

Heat recovery systems can generate thermal energy savings of up to 30 percent.

Italian Drying Group integrates the iDry STOP&GO software into its systems, which adjusts fan operation in real time during the drying cycle. The system can reduce electricity consumption by up to 50 percent without increasing drying times and, with certain wood species, can even shorten the overall cycle duration. Advanced monitoring and automation features allow operators to improve process efficiency while maintaining consistent drying quality.

Incomac, which specializes in dehumidification kilns, has installed more than 10,000 kilns in 95 countries. They refer to the systems as condensation kilns, which operate based on the principle of the internal air recirculation and dehumidification. This process takes place thanks to the refrigeration circuit inside the machine that reduces the necessary thermal consumption by a third, working in combination with the heat pump. They are mostly powered by electricity, but heating batteries with thermal fluid may also be used as support power.

The company’s latest technology, mac EVO, represents the new generation of high-efficiency heat pump dryers. Designed to reduce environmental impact while maximizing performance, mac EVO incorporates inverter technology, optimized heat recovery, and advanced airflow management to improve drying efficiency and process stability. The system was developed with a vision focused on long-term sustainability, including the ability to retrofit existing units and extend their operational lifespan. According to Italian Drying Group, mac EVO concretely embodies the company’s commitment to energy efficiency, durability, and sustainable industrial innovation.

For more information about Italian Drying Group and its brands, visit the websites, www.incomac.com and www.nardi.it, or contact the North American agent, Theo Leonov, at theo.leonov@bellnet.ca or (613) 297 2261.