A comparison of harvesting productivity and costs in thinning operations with and without midfield

Mederski, Piotr S.

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2005.12.042

Cited by 54 publications

(57 citation statements)

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“…Biomass harvesting operations play an important role in bioenergy production by influencing the supply and recovery of forest fibre and the delivered cost of wood fuel (Puttock 1995). The productivity and profitability of harvesting operations depends to a large extent on the efficiency of the harvesters and forwarders, which is dependent on machine type, tree size, species composition, age, spacing, density and area, including terrain conditions, forwarding distance and location of biomass (Mederski 2006). Recovery of fibre is also .…”

Section: Factors Affecting Biomass Harvesting and Recoverymentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing forest biomass for bioenergy: Operational challenges and cost considerations

Ralevic¹,

Ryans²,

Cormier³

2010

The Forestry Chronicle

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Sustainability assessments and biomass inventories often neglect the operational challenges involved in the harvesting of forest biomass for bioenergy. Thus, concerns that increasing demands for biomass will lead to greater environmental impacts, particularly on soil productivity, need to be considered from an operations perspective that takes into consideration the technical and cost limitations to biomass recovery. We examine operational forest biomass recovery potential of harvest residue (slash) for three sites located north of Kapuskasing, Ontario. The sites are in the Northern Claybelt, which is in the boreal forest and is comprised primarily of lowland black spruce and upland mixedwoods. Supply flows of harvest residues estimated using the Biomass Opportunity Supply Model (BiOS), developed by FPInnovations -Feric Division are compared to validation data collected from the sites. Costs for the supply flows were also estimated using BiOS. After harvesting limitations and planned retentions (such as wildlife trees) were taken into consideration, 41% (41.2 ovendry tonnes/ha) and 59% (99.1 odt/ha) of total above-ground biomass were estimated to remain on site in two mixedwood blocks, and 25% (25.3 odt/ha) in a black spruce block. Thus, considerable biomass was left on the forest floor, contrary to popular perceptions that bioenergy harvesting will result in a "clearing" or potential "vacuuming" of the forest floor. The delivered cost was $53/odt ($2.86/GJ energy equivalent) and $58/odt ($3.14/GJ) for the two upland sites and $59/odt ($3.19/GJ) for the lowland black spruce site. This is higher than conventional hog fuel costs. Although operational and cost considerations thus limit harvest residue recovery, and although there are a number of operational factors that can minimize environmental impacts on soils and biodiversity, sustainable biomass removal guidelines still need to be implemented on sites sensitive to soil damage and nutrient removal.Key words: biomass, bioenergy, harvest, operations, cost, supply chain, sustainable management, soil nutrients, forest residues, BiOS model, Ontario RÉSUMÉ Les évaluations de durabilité et les inventaires de biomasse négligent souvent les défis opérationnels reliés à la récolte de biomasse forestière pour la production de bioénergie. En conséquence, les inquiétudes à l' effet que l'accroissement de la demande de biomasse générera plus d'impacts environnementaux, particulièrement sur la productivité des sols, doivent être étudiées selon une perspective opérationnelle qui prend en considération les limites techniques et financières de la récupération de la biomasse. Nous avons étudié le potentiel opérationnel de récupération de la biomasse forestière à partir des résidus de récolte (rémanents) de trois sites situés au nord de Kapuskasing en Ontario. Les sites se retrouvent sur la zone argileuse du Nord qui fait partie de la forêt boréale et est composée principalement d' épinette noire sur sol marécageux et de forêts mélangées sur terrain plus sec. Les flux d'ap...

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Section: Factors Affecting Biomass Harvesting and Recoverymentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing forest biomass for bioenergy: Operational challenges and cost considerations

Ralevic¹,

Ryans²,

Cormier³

2010

The Forestry Chronicle

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“…Trudno wprawdzie porównywać wynik pracy maszyny w warunkach, w których są usuwane wszystkie drzewa, z warunkami pracy w trzebieży, ale warto zauważyć, że uzyskana w pracy wydajność jest zbliżona do podawanej w literaturze wydajności pozyskiwania drewna podczas realizacji trzebieży wczesnych w drzewostanach w podobnym wieku (Jodłow-ski, 2000;Mederski, 2006;Moskalik, 2004;Suwała i Jodłowski, 2002). Uszkodzenia drzew w drzewostanie, w którym prowadzono badania, miały charakter powierzchniowy, w związku z tym harwester wykonywał tam cięcia zupełne, podobnie jak w drzewostanach rębnych.…”

Section: Dyskusjaunclassified

Effectiveness of mechanized wood harvesting in a tree stand damaged by wind

Stempski

Jabłoński

2015

Nauka Przyr. Technol.

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Streszczenie. W pracy dokonano oceny podstawowych wskaźników efektywności wyróbki i zrywki drewna z 28-letniego drzewostanu sosnowego, w którym szkody od wiatru miały charakter powierzchniowy. Ocenę tę przeprowadzono w stosunku do czasu operacyjnego. W zastosowanym wariancie technologicznym pozostałości zrębowe harwester przygotowywał do zrywki, koncentrując je w wałach wzdłuż sortymentów drzewnych. W badaniach stwierdzono bardzo zbliżone udziały czasów czynności wyróbki sortymentów drzewnych i przygotowania pozostało-ści zrębowych. Wydajność pracy harwestera przy wyróbce sortymentów drzewnych wyniosła 8,85 m 3 /h, a podczas koncentrowania pozostałości zrębowych 3,29 m 3 /h. Wydajność zrywki sortymentów drzewnych, na odległość 150-200 m wyniosła 18,75 m 3 /h, a pozostałości zrębo-wych 6,86 m 3 /h. Słowa kluczowe: szkody od wiatru, harwester, forwarder WstępJednym z efektów dokonujących się zmian klimatycznych jest częstsze występowa-nie gwałtownych zjawisk atmosferycznych, których negatywne oddziaływanie dotyczy także lasu. Należą do nich huraganowe wiatry, które regularnie wyrządzają szkody w polskich lasach, szczególnie w rejonach północno-wschodnich i południowych.

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“…To obtain the production costs and the hourly cost of each system, the fixed and variable costs of equipment and manpower are calculated (Mederski, 2006;Miyata, 1980). The fixed costs include the initial investment in equipment and tools (allowing for a service life of 2500 hours for cutting equipment and 5000 hours for manual tools) (Nieto and Soria, 1995) and daily wages of operators (€90 for 7 hours of work in 2010 according to industry sources).…”

Section: Cost Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

New tools for extracting cork from Quercus suber L.: increasing productivity and reducing damage

2014

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Aim of study: The aim of this study is to test new tools designed to debark cork oak trees: mechanized tools to perform cutting operations (IPLA-Morell, Stihl MC200 and COVELESS) and manual tools to separate and extract the cork (cork pincers, MIJURO).Area of study: Southwestern Spain.Material and methods: One of the longstanding problems affecting the sector is the shortage of skilled labor to perform debarking due to the difficulty of handling axes and the temporary nature of the work. To overcome these problems, four debarking systems using the new tools were designed according to the morphological properties of cork oak. The viability of the debarking systems were evaluated based on productivity (kg · person–1 · hour–1), production costs (€ · t1) and percentage of pieces smaller than 400 cm2 (%), and compared with the traditional system. Debarking quality and operator experience were also evaluated. A total of 204 trees were debarked.Main results: The new systems obtain better results: productivity is higher, the percentage of pieces is slightly lower and production costs are reduced, except for one system. Debarking quality improves with the new tools as cork is extracted in a more precise and cleaner manner, thus permitting cork manufacturers to obtain higher yields from the cork planks.Research highlights: Semi-skilled operators using the new tools obtain very similar results to skilled operators using axes. This would therefore resolve the problem of the lack of skilled labor, while improving the working conditions of operators. The results demonstrate that the new tools are viable for cork debarking and can bring potential benefits to the sector.Key words: Q. suber L.; cork debarking; mechanization; productivity; cork stripping damage; axe; IPLA_Morell, Sthil MC 200, COVELESS.

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A comparison of harvesting productivity and costs in thinning operations with and without midfield

Cited by 54 publications

References 4 publications

Assessing forest biomass for bioenergy: Operational challenges and cost considerations

Assessing forest biomass for bioenergy: Operational challenges and cost considerations

Effectiveness of mechanized wood harvesting in a tree stand damaged by wind

New tools for extracting cork from Quercus suber L.: increasing productivity and reducing damage

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