Biomass harvesting takes a new turn with an innovative machine from Australia.
BioSystems Engineering sees trees as the world’s largest agricultural crop. They are challenging the conventional ways of harvesting trees for biomass by carrying out vertical harvesting. Each tree is severed with a hot-saw and then held in the vertical position before chipping. This reduces the handling time of each stem between cutting and feeding into the chipper. The tree is also kept off the ground which reduces contamination in the chipped material. Stump height can be varied from 5 to 30 cm (2 to 12 in).
Because tree size variation is usually high, the Bionic Beaver has elevator conveyors that adjust independently between the front and the rear to firmly grip different sized single stems or multiple coppice stems. The vertical chipping allows the machine to handle different tree heights ranging from short shrubs (5 m/16 ft) to tall eucalypts of 10 m (33 ft) and higher. Chips are accelerated through a chute into an accompanying chip collection machine. Chip size can be controlled to provide different markets with the products they desire. When operating in trees of 20 cm (8 in) basal diameter and 12 m (39 ft) high, production figures of 35 green tonnes per hour are claimed. Source: http://www.biosystems-eng.com/current-projects/
BioSystems Engineering sees trees as the world’s largest agricultural crop. They are challenging the conventional ways of harvesting trees for biomass by carrying out vertical harvesting. Each tree is severed with a hot-saw and then held in the vertical position before chipping. This reduces the handling time of each stem between cutting and feeding into the chipper. The tree is also kept off the ground which reduces contamination in the chipped material. Stump height can be varied from 5 to 30 cm (2 to 12 in).
Because tree size variation is usually high, the Bionic Beaver has elevator conveyors that adjust independently between the front and the rear to firmly grip different sized single stems or multiple coppice stems. The vertical chipping allows the machine to handle different tree heights ranging from short shrubs (5 m/16 ft) to tall eucalypts of 10 m (33 ft) and higher. Chips are accelerated through a chute into an accompanying chip collection machine. Chip size can be controlled to provide different markets with the products they desire. When operating in trees of 20 cm (8 in) basal diameter and 12 m (39 ft) high, production figures of 35 green tonnes per hour are claimed. Source: http://www.biosystems-eng.com/current-projects/