The biomass yields and productivity of biomass harvesting equipment was studied in poor-quality Eucalyptus plantations.
The title of the research was “Biomass Harvesting in Eucalyptus plantations in Western Australia”, and the article appeared in Southern Forests: a Journal of Forest Science, 73:3-4, 149-154. The authors were MR Ghaffariyan, M Brown, M Acuna, J Sessions, M Kuehmaier and J Wiedemann. A full tree harvesting system consisting of a feller-buncher, grapple skidder and full-tree chipper was used in small (0.10 t/tree) Eucalyptus grandis x camaldulensis trees. The full-tree (stem, branches, leaves and bark) was chipped for delivery to a pelletising plant. 63.9 t/ha of green biomass was harvested. The research had four objectives:
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Evaluating the productivity of the various machines used to harvest the biomass
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Investigate the impact of skidding distance and payload on skidder efficiency
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Record work delays and stoppages to improve system performance
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Determine the biomass yield of the system studied.
The results showed that due to the small tree size, system productivity was lower, and therefore the harvesting costs were higher, than conventional in-field chipping for pulp chips in Australia. Key skidder delays occurred when the chipper was full, and chipper delays occurred when the skidder had not extracted sufficient trees. The authors suggested selecting sites closer to pelletising plants, and selecting systems that could be more efficient in smaller trees. For a more complete account of the research, please access the journal article at http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tsfs20/73/3-4