Performance of a portable chain flail delimber/debarker processing northern hardwoods.

Thompson, Michael A.; Sturos, John A.

doi:10.2737/nc-rp-297

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…Bark contents of 4.6% have been achieved in this way during the delimbing and debarking of hardwoods in the northern US (Thompson & Sturos 1991). Several authors have investigated the barking efficiency and wood losses for chain flails, e.g.…”

Section: Flail Delimbers and Debarkersmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The state of the art in woody biomass comminution and sorting in Northern Europe

Eriksson

Bergström

Nordfjell

2013

International Journal of Forest Engineering

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This review provides a survey of the literature on methods for comminuting and sorting woody biomass. The reported methods were classified according to their basic operating principles: methods of comminution were separated based on whether they use sharp, semi-sharp or blunt tools; methods of discrimination were classified according to the parameters they use. The identified methods of comminution differ significantly in terms of productivity and energy use. The differences between individual biocomponents with respect to the parameters used for discrimination (such as solid density, or particle size and shape) are often rather small and species dependent, which makes it difficult to efficiently sort woody biomass from mixed species. Other parameters (e.g. optical and near-infrared properties) can be used as inputs for active sorting on larger scales. Several methods for tree processing and chip sorting that were originally developed for pulp-chip production now see little use because they are not considered cost-effective. However, the economic importance of fuel products has increased substantially in recent years. Fuel can be produced using material with a higher bark content than is tolerated in pulp chips, so it may be worth re-evaluating some of the methods that were previously discarded. Examples include tree-processing machines such as drums and cradles for partial foliage removal, processes such as delimbing and debarking (which facilitate downstream sorting of the comminuted material), and screens and wind classifiers for processes such as separating fines (often ash-rich) from comminuted material. The available data on the performance, required investment, and operating costs for these methods are incomplete and often not comparable. This issue must be addressed to facilitate the development of optimized fuel supply chains.

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Section: Flail Delimbers and Debarkersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several authors have investigated the barking efficiency and wood losses for chain flails, e.g. Thompson and Sturos (1991) and Hartsough et al (2002). Chain wear during flailing has been studied by Watson et al (1993) and Hartsough et al (2002).…”

Section: Flail Delimbers and Debarkersmentioning

confidence: 99%

The state of the art in woody biomass comminution and sorting in Northern Europe

Eriksson

Bergström

Nordfjell

2013

International Journal of Forest Engineering

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“…In fact, the most important bene t offered by CFDD technology is the capacity to easily handle more trees per cycle. Depending on machine type, tree size and expected work quality, a CFDD can e ciently process 3 to 7 trees at a time, which boosts productivity and represents a great advantage especially when handling small trees (Thompson and Sturos 1991). Through mass-handling, CFDDs can offset the productivity handicap imposed by small trees (Nakagawa et al 2007): as tree size gets smaller, more trees are gathered into the same load and through ow is stabilized (Mooney et al 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

First trial of a prototype chainflail delimber for the European short rotation poplar plantations

Spinelli

Kovacs²,

Heger³

et al. 2022

Eur J Forest Res

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Small tree size represents a main challenge for single-tree handling techniques and caps harvesting productivity in short rotation poplar (SRP) plantations. That challenge is best met by a shift towards mass-handling. Chain ail delimbing is one of the best solutions for multi-tree processing, but commercially available equipment is often too heavy and expensive for European operations. Therefore, an Italian company developed a compact chain ail delimber-debarker (CFDD) speci cally designed for small-scale SRP. The machine was tested in Western Slovakia in early March 2022. The test included a ve-days endurance trial and a controlled experiment on 16 carefully measured wood piles representing "strong" and "weak" trees, i.e. trees with a mean diameter at breast height (DBH) of 12 and 10 cm, respectively. The endurance trial was quite successful since no mechanical problems were recorded during the ve-days period. Delimbing and crosscutting quality were as good as those obtained with a standard processor head, while log yield was generally better, averaging 42% and 68% for the "weak" and the "strong" trees, respectively. Productivity was on a par with the alternative technology options and can be signi cantly increased once the prototype will be further developed. In general, the new compact CFDD may become the best option for handling the small trees offered by underdeveloped SRP plantations, which cannot be e ciently harvested with the cut-to-length system.

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“…Chain-flail delimber-debarker-chippers (CFDDC) are large industrial machines, specifically designed for producing bark-free chips from whole trees in one single pass (Sessions and Kellogg 1994). To this purpose, CFDDCs integrate two functional elements: a chain-flail delimber-debarker and a disc chipper (Thompson and Sturos 1991). The former knocks off branches and bark from whole trees by using hardened chain links mounted on fast-rotating drums, while the latter turns bark-free stem wood into clean pulp chips (McEwan et al 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Manipulating Chain Type and Flail Drum Speed for Better Fibre Recovery in Chain-Flail Delimber-Debarker-Chipper Operations

Spinelli

Mitchell

Brown

et al. 2019

Croat. j. for. eng. (Online)

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A chain-flail delimber-debarker-chipper (CFDDC) was adapted for treating smaller trees than normal by replacing the standard flails with lighter ones, and by reducing flail drum rotation speed. The machine produced 16 full containers (24 t each) for the standard configuration and 24 full containers for the innovative one. For each container the researchers measured: original tree mass, chip mass, time consumption and fuel use. Results indicated that the innovative setting accrued a 12% improvement on fiber recovery compared with the standard setting (control). At the same time, productivity increased by 20% and fuel consumption was reduced by 30%. Product quality was largely unaffected, with bark content remaining below the 1% threshold specification. If at all, product quality was improved through the reduction of fine particles, possibly derived from less diffused fraying. These results have triggered the real scale adoption of the new setting by contractors who participated in the study. The success of the innovative treatment is likely explained by its better alignment with the weaker structure of small trees from low-yielding stands.

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Performance of a portable chain flail delimber/debarker processing northern hardwoods.

Cited by 9 publications

References 0 publications

The state of the art in woody biomass comminution and sorting in Northern Europe

The state of the art in woody biomass comminution and sorting in Northern Europe

First trial of a prototype chainflail delimber for the European short rotation poplar plantations

Manipulating Chain Type and Flail Drum Speed for Better Fibre Recovery in Chain-Flail Delimber-Debarker-Chipper Operations

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