Paper details

Title:

Productivity and Costs of Forest Machine Systems in the Harvesting of Over-Grown Willow Plantations

Author(s):

Di Fulvio, F., Bergström, D., Kons, K., Nordfjell, T.

Document(s):

Abstract:

The modified forage harvesters used for harvesting operations in conventional Short Rotation Willow Coppice (SRWC) in Sweden suffer from their inability to harvest stems whose thickness at stump height exceeds 60­70 mm. A valuable alternative method might be to use forest machines fitted with Accumulating Felling Heads (AFH), which were developed for harvesting small diameter trees. A field study was performed in a 6 year old SRWC. Two areas with different growing conditions were identified in the experimental stand. In each area, full­length stems of willow were felled and hauled to the roadside using two different harvesting systems. System 1 consisted of a harvester and a forwarder and System 2 consisted of a one-machine system able to both harvest and forward the biomass (a harwarder). It was found for both systems that the felling and bunching time per hectare was not affected by biomass density or stem sizes; the relative productivity difference between the two areas was therefore primarily due to differences in the total biomass. Consequently, significant productivity increases would be expected when harvesting stands that are more over-grown, i.e. more biomass-dense, than those studied. Under the studied conditions, the net income was positive when using the harvester-forwarder system but was negative for the harwarder system.

Keywords:

bioenergy, efficiency, energy crops, mechanization, short rotation forestry (SRF)

Topic:

Biomass Resources

Subtopic:

Energy crops (session 3)

Event:

19th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition

Session:

OC1.4

Pages:

164 - 167

ISBN-13:

978-88-89407-55-4

ISBN-10:

88-89407-55-7

Paper DOI:

10.5071/19thEUBCE2011-OC1.4

Price:

FREE