Evaluation of a Single-Pass, Cut and Chip Harvest System on Commercial-Scale, Short-Rotation Shrub Willow Biomass Crops
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Evaluation of a Single-Pass, Cut and Chip Harvest System on Commercial-Scale, Short-Rotation Shrub Willow Biomass Crops Mark H. Eisenbies & Timothy A. Volk & John Posselius & Chris Foster & Shun Shi & Samvel Karapetyan
# Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014
Abstract Harvesting is the single largest cost in the production of short-rotation woody crops (SRWC) like shrub willow, and previous systems tested in North America have not been effective for the size of material grown. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of a single-pass, cut and chip harvester in conjunction with two locally sourced chip collection systems on 54 ha of coppiced willow harvests in New York State. Harvesting and collection equipment was tracked for 153 loads over 10 days of harvesting using GPS data loggers. Effective material capacities (Cm) increased linearly with standing biomass up to 40 to 45 Mgwet ha−1 because ground speed was limited by ground conditions. This relationship changed dramatically with standing biomass in the 40– 90 Mgwet ha−1 range, where Cm plateaued between 70 and 90 Mgwet h−1 and was limited by crop conditions and harvester capacity. The relationship between standing biomass and the harvester’s Cm will probably change under different crop and ground conditions. The size of the harvester and the experience of the operator are other factors. This nonlinear relationship will impact cost and optimization modeling SRWC systems. Improperly sized headland and long haul distances impeded the performance of locally sourced collection systems resulting in a 33 % decrease in Cm from the field to the headlands, and 66 % from the field to short-term storage as biomass moves through the system.
M. H. Eisenbies (*) : T. A. Volk : S. Shi : S. Karapetyan College of Environmental Science and Forestry, State University of New York, 1 Forestry Dr., Syracuse, NY 13210, USA e-mail: [email protected] J. Posselius : C. Foster CNH America LLC, P.O. box 1895, ms 640, New Holland, PA 17557-0903, USA
Keywords Short-rotation woody crops . Coppice systems . Harvest logistics . Effective material capacity . Effective field capacity . Efficiency
Introduction Biomass for bioproducts and bioenergy can be sourced from forests, agricultural crops, various residue streams, and dedicated woody or herbaceous crops [1, 2]. Woody biomass of all types is available year-round from multiple sources including natural forests, short-rotation woody crops (SRWC) and other residue streams, so end users are not dependent on a single source of material. This ensures a consistent feedstock supply, reduces the risk of dramatic price fluctuations, and eliminates the needs for complicated and expensive long-term storage of material [3]. Woody biomass has the potential to be an important source of biomass in the northeastern USA where forests occupy 67 % of the land area [4]; agricultural production has been in a 20-year decline; and crop residues are limited because of the dominance of dairy in the agricultural sector, which results in the
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