The Influence of the Use of Windrowers in Baler Machinery on the Energy Balance during Pruned Biomass Harvesting in the Apple Orchard

Abstract

The effective operation of machinery in agricultural processes is crucial in terms of energy efficiency, economic consequences, and environmental footprint. The agricultural sector provides many opportunities to bring biomass to the market. An interesting option is to collect the branches after a regular pruning of apple orchards in the winter-spring season. As the harvesting of pruning residues in apple orchards for energy purposes demands additional primary energy, any measures that increase the amount of collected biomass are desirable. In this study, the influence of pruning harvesting using a baler with and without windrowers on pruning biomass yield, energy input and output flow, energy balance, CO 2 emission reduction, and costs of that operation in apple orchards was investigated. The performed analysis, based on the results from two apple orchards, revealed that the energy balance was positive for both variants. However, in comparison with the harvesting process without windrowers, the use of windrowers in these two orchards caused an increase in pruning biomass yield by 0.45 tDM·ha −1 per year (25%) and 0.54 tDM·ha −1 per year (33%), respectively. The energy balance increased up by ca. 0.8-1.0 GJ·ha −1 , although the fuel consumption by the tractor was higher. The use of windrowers did not significantly increase the costs, but resulted in remarkably better income from biomass selling (ca. €30-40 ha −1 ). Finally, the increase in the mass of harvested biomass led to a higher potential CO 2 emission reduction. As a result, pruning biomass is an attractive source of energy, especially for local markets.Energies 2018, 11, 3236 2 of 15 than 60% of the current renewable energy production in the EU-28, and the majority is sourced from solid biomass [5]. Due to the numerous advantages of using biomass, much attention has been paid to developing advanced technologies to enable its conversion to energy and fuels. The main source of solid biomass is forestry [6], but significant amounts are produced by agriculture as well, including energy crops and agricultural residues [7]. Agricultural residues can be divided into three main groups: primary crop residues, secondary crop residues, and animal farming residues. Primary crops residues are produced on the field (like straw, prunings, and other cuttings). Secondary crop residues are generated during processing of harvested products (like pomace or sunflower husks). Animal farming residues are produced during animal breeding (like manure).Primary crops residues require collection using suitable machinery [8,9]. Agriculture residues are generally collected in the form of round bales, square bales, or in their chopped form [10]. As a result, there is a demand for additional energy for recovery, harvesting, processing, storage, and transportation to prepare such biomass for energy purposes [11,12]. The limited season for harvesting crop residues results in seasonal supply of agriculture-based biomass [13]. Among the crop residues, the seasonal pruning of fruit orchards r...

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