Precision measurement of forest harvesting residue moisture change and dry matter losses by constant weight monitoring

Routa, Johanna; Kolström, Marja; Ruotsalainen, Johanna; Sikanen, Lauri

doi:10.1080/14942119.2015.1012900

Cited by 28 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 12 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) pulpwood (Mäkelä et al 2000). Tree species, material characteristics, moisture, temperature, size and shape of the energy-wood pile, amount of nutrients, and oxygen content of the pile combine to affect the microbial activity and deterioration of energy wood (Jirjis 1995;Nurmi 1999;Pettersson and Nordfjell 2007;Nurmi 2014;Routa et al 2015a). In this study trees from young stands were harvested as delimbed, offering stem wood feedstock devoid of nutrient-rich needles and branches, which is an obvious benefit when attempting to avoid dry matter losses compared to harvesting systems based on harvesting with branches (Bergström et al 2010;Bergström and Di Fulvio 2014a;Bergström and Di Fulvio 2014b;Nuutinen and Björ-heden 2015;Hanzelka et al 2016;.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Also, the effect of the natural drying is hardly predictable or controllable (Wolfsmayr and Rauch 2014). During storing, natural drying reduces moisture content, but on the other hand, biodegradation leads to loss of dry matter and loss of energy-rich extractives (Jirjis 1995;Filbakk et al 2011;Laurila 2013;Rauch 2013;Nurmi 2014;Routa et al 2015a). Together, these factors will determine the volumetric energy density (Nurmi 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In natural drying, the environmental conditions are a very important parts of the drying process (Röser et al 2011;Laurila 2013;Wolfsmayr and Rauch 2014;Erber et al 2014;Pochi et al 2015;Routa et al 2015a;Routa et al 2015b;Anisimov et al 2017;Erber et al 2017;). Natural drying is most efficient during the spring and summer and covering the piles helps to maintain a lower moisture content during the winter (Röser et al 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Pre-feasibility study of supply systems based on artificial drying of delimbed stem forest chips

Laitila¹,

Ahtikoski²,

Repola³

et al. 2017

Silva Fenn.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Highlights• With artificial drying and quick delivery, avoiding dry material losses of harvested timber, it could be possible to reduce the current costs of the prevailing procurement system based on natural drying of stored timber at roadside landings.• The maximum cost for the prospective drying process of fresh chips corresponds to, e.g., organization costs or stumpage price of delimbed stems. AbstractThis study was aimed at determining the maximum cost level of artificial drying required for cost-efficient operation. This was done using a system analysis approach, in which the harvesting potential and procurement cost of alternative fuel chip production systems were compared at the stand and regional level. The accumulation and procurement cost of chipped delimbed stems from young forests were estimated within a 100 km transport distance from a hypothetical end use facility located in northern Finland. Logging and transportation costs, stumpage prices, tied up capital, dry matter losses and moisture content of harvested timber were considered in the study. Moisture content of artificially dried fuel chips made of fresh timber (55%) was set to 20%, 30% and 40% in the comparisons. Moisture content of fuel chips based on natural drying during storing was 40%. Transporting costs were calculated according to new higher permissible dimensions and weight limits for truck-trailers. The procurement cost calculations indicated that with artificial drying and by avoiding dry material losses of timber, it could be possible to reduce current costs of the prevailing procurement system based on natural drying of timber at roadside landings. The maximum cost level of artificial drying ranged between 1.2-3.2 € MWh -1 depending on the supply chain, moisture content and procurement volume of fuel chips. This cost margin corresponds to, e.g., organization, forwarding and transportation costs or stumpage price of delimbed stems.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Pre-feasibility study of supply systems based on artificial drying of delimbed stem forest chips

Laitila¹,

Ahtikoski²,

Repola³

et al. 2017

Silva Fenn.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…According to earlier studies of harvesting residue chip material, DML % per month has varied 0.75-3% (Thörnqvist 1983, Thörnqvist & Jirjis 1990, Anerud et al 2016, Raitila & Sikanen 2016, while 0.5-3% DML has been reported for in piles of uncomminuted logging residues (Jirjis & Lehtikangas 1993, Nurmi 1999, Jirjis & Norden 2005, Pettersson & Nordfjell, 2007, Routa et al 2015. Nonetheless, in article III the increased DML % of stored logging residue chips was taken into account to the terminal scenarios to observe the influence of DML rate on the supply costs.…”

Section: Fuel Quality Aspects and Feedstock Allocationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A better understanding of material dissipation during storage in terms of microbial activity or spillage of material due to handling and storing (Routa et al 2015, Routa et al 2016) and the influence of dry matter loss on the forest chip supply efficiency (Kinnunen 2016 has raised the importance of monitoring and controlling material losses within the supply chain of forest chips. For example, according to Kinnunen (2016), the use of a "fast-track approach" with minimized storage times for forest chips, supply costs could be decreased by 8-13% compared with conventional chip supply depending on the speed of decomposing.…”

Section: Fuel Quality Aspectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing forest chips supply chains by redesigning supply operations and logistics

Väätäinen¹

2018

Diss. For.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

3Väätäinen K. (2018). Developing forest chips supply chains by redesigning supply operations and logistics. Dissertationes Forestales 250. 75p. https://doi.org/10.14214/df.250 ABSTRACTThe overall aim of the thesis was to design efficient supply chain setups in the selected supply environments by enhancing overall supply system performance, decreasing supply costs and improving year-round working opportunities by taking fuel properties through the supply chain into account. The supply chain re-engineering approach has been used with a narrowed focus, where logistics and inventory, material handling and delivery of forest chips to heat and power plant as well as the customer's desideratum have been considered. The studied supply chains were all based on the transportation of forest biomass as chipped from roadside storage locations either directly to power plant or via terminal or inland waterway harbour to power plant by chip truck or a combination of barge and chip truck.Discrete event simulation was selected as a study method due to the characteristics of the forest chip supply chains including the high level of interactions between system elements and the specific characteristics of the supply environment. The data required for the model development and models' parameter input values were acquired from the available data of the real system and from the literature.To enhance the performance of the forest chip supply chain from roadside storage locations to end-use facilities, the following results and conclusions were obtained: 1) Rearrangements in the set-up of fuel reception stations and the logistics of fuel truck reception at the power plant as well as adaptive shift scheduling of trucks resulted in a notable decrease in the waiting times of fuel trucks at the power plant's fuel reception. 2) Forest chip supply from roadside storage locations highly encourages the use of storage area location and quality information for smart material allocation to achieve a higher energy output with lower supply costs, especially when the demand for fuel is at its highest.3) By introducing a feed-in terminal for forest chip supply, cost compensation for additional terminal-driven costs can be gained through a higher annual capacity utilisation of a fuel supply fleet and more secured fuel supply to power plants by decreasing the need for supplemental fuel, which can be more expensive at times when fuel demand is at its highest. Terminal-aided forest chip supply facilitates smoother working throughout the year in the chipping and transporting of forest chips, thus offering more stable working opportunities than a conventional direct supply of forest chips. 4) Inland waterway areas with existing waterway infrastructure and close connections to biomass resources and enduse facilities can offer a cost-competitive and supplemental method for the long distance transport of forest chips. Reshaping the conventional fleet used for waterway transport and restructuring the logistics of waterway transportation together with harbour ope...

show abstract

Feasibility of Solar-Enhanced Drying of Woody Biomass

Raitila

Tsupari

2019

Bioenerg. Res.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Sustainable biomass resources are limited and their utilization therefore needs to be more efficient. In addition, there is an urgent need for low-cost energy storage, particularly for solar energy. Drying considerably increases the calorific value of woody biomass, and the resulting dried biomass provides easy seasonal energy storage. The drying both improves the quality of the biomass and extends its storage life. To investigate the technology and feasibility of solar-enhanced drying, several drying experiments were conducted on wood chips in VTT's 12 kW peak convective dryer in Jyväskylä, Finland. Drying times varied from 3.5 to 27 h and the final moistures from 12 to 32 w-%. VTT's experiments show that solar heat can be successfully applied to thermal drying of biomass. The moderate drying temperatures used (typically 20-50°C) are advantageous for ensuring homogenous drying of wood particles and for preventing changes to the physical structure of the biomass and loss of volatiles. Due to the low efficiency of the system, still in its prototype phase, the calculated payback times were not highly attractive to the entrepreneur. In the experiments, best profitability was achieved by drying seasoned wood, for which a payback time of 12-17 years was estimated for a large scale system such as a biomass terminal. Based on the assumptions that technical improvements are made, the best drying efficiency reached in our experiments is achieved, and some investment subsidy is secured; scale-up is feasible. With these criteria met, the payback time of such a dryer could be brought below 10 years. This requires, however, that drying increases the selling price of wood chips.

show abstract

Precision measurement of forest harvesting residue moisture change and dry matter losses by constant weight monitoring

Cited by 28 publications

References 12 publications

Pre-feasibility study of supply systems based on artificial drying of delimbed stem forest chips

Pre-feasibility study of supply systems based on artificial drying of delimbed stem forest chips

Developing forest chips supply chains by redesigning supply operations and logistics

Feasibility of Solar-Enhanced Drying of Woody Biomass

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About