Production Of Wood Chips Research Articles

Evaluation of an improved design for large-scale storage of wood chip and bark

A developed bioeconomy needs better storage methods for wood chips and forest industry by-products, since increasing demands for more assortments, more storage will be necessary Today, solutions for coping with storage-related problems, such as dry matter losses and risk of self-ignition, are based on separating assortments into smaller piles and avoiding large-scale long-term storage of chips. A safe and efficient storage solution is needed to enable wood chip production all year round and not be limited to just-in-time production during the cold heating season when there is a large demand. This might result in a more robust system with larger buffer capacities, a less stressful working environment for chipping and transport contractors, and a better yearly machine utilisation.This study evaluated storage outcomes for wood chips and bark when using an improved storage design that created assortment separation using concrete walls and a semipermeable sheet for cover. The new design enabled efficient area utilisation and increased fire safety. The storage outcome was also improved in terms of moisture content, dry matter losses and temperature development compared to conventional open-air piles.

Economic Analysis of Cedar Plantation Management and Mega-Solar Replacement

Technology related to solar power as a renewable energy resource has increased in recent years. However, in Japan, forestland has been converted into mega-solar power plants with more than 1 MW photovoltaic capacity and such conversions raise significant concerns as they degrade forest ecosystem services. In this study, the profit and power supplies generated by a mega-solar power plant and a cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) plantation were evaluated. The profit for the cedar plantation was estimated from saw log and wood chip production, and its power supply was estimated from wood chip production alone. These figures were based on an optimal forest management strategy that was generated using a dynamic programming model. In this numerical simulation, it was found that the power supply from the mega-solar power plant was 50–150 times more than that from the cedar plantation. Regarding profit, it was found that the simulated mega-solar power plant provided NPV (net present value) of 8.5–90.6 MM JPY (Japanese Yen)/1–3 ha (0.1–3.0 MM JPY/ha/year), while the forest management simulation generated an NPV of 29,863 JPY/ha/year (for one timber rotation) and SEV (soil expectation value) of 3.6 MM JPY/ha at most. To avoid the conversion of forests into mega-solar power plants, this difference provides a basis for the cost of maintaining forests for ecosystem services and potential economic incentives.

Optimization of Logistics Processes During the Production of Wood Chips

Biomass is one of the sustainable sources for the production of heat and electricity. This paper is devoted to the processing of wood waste. It is an analysis of wood chips processing from the process of balancing the brushwood after toll harvesting, including the transport of processed wood mass to the heating company. MS Project software was used to optimize this production process.

Model-based optimization of xylooligosaccharides production by hydrothermal pretreatment of Eucalyptus by-product

Eucalyptus wood is the main source of fiber for the production of paper and cellulose in South America. One of the by-products of the pulp industry is sawdust generated during wood chip production; sawdust from Eucalyptus is denominated as Eucalyptus by-product (EB). Xylooligosaccharides (XOS) are oligomers mainly comprising xylose units, which have beneficial effects on health. In this study, was report the optimization of XOS production through the hydrothermal pretreatment (HP) of EB. A central composite experimental design comprising a 23-factorial design with six axial points and four replicates at the central point was employed to optimize the HP conditions for maximum XOS production using response surface method; these conditions were as follows: temperature of 161 °C, reaction time of 65 min, and consistency of 10 %. The hemicellulosic hydrolysate showed potential for the production of XOS, containing 60 milligrams of XOS per gram of EB.

Growth, physiological responses and wood production of an Acacia auriculiformis plantation in southern Vietnam following mid-rotation thinning, application of phosphorus fertiliser and organic matter retention

Acacia auriculiformis plantations are widely planted in Vietnam. Initially they were grown for wood chip production, but these plantations have potential to be managed for higher value sawing and/or peeling grade logs, through enhanced silvicultural management. This study sought to understand the impact of resource constraints on responses of A. auriculiformis plantations to thinning, phosphorus fertiliser application and slash retention at age four years on growth and physiology of A. auriculiformis trees to rotation end at age nine years. A trial in South Vietnam had a factorial combination of thinning (unthinned (planted at 1666 trees ha−1), or thinned to 833 trees ha−1), P fertilizer (Nil, or 50 kg P ha−1), and organic matter manipulation (slash and litter retained or removed).Thinning significantly increased photosynthetic rate (Amax) compared to control (unthinned) for at least 12 months after treatment application. Combined thinning and phosphorus fertiliser (P) application increased Amax, but Amax in the unthinned treatment did not significantly increase when supplied with additional P. Foliar nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations were greater in thinned than in unthinned treatments. Thinning commensurately reduced the leaf area, but subsequently, leaf area increased again in the thinned treatments compared to the unthinned treatments, such that twenty months after thinning there were no significant differences in leaf area index between thinned plus P fertiliser and unthinned treatments. There were significant differences in the mean diameter under different thinning regimes at one and five years after thinning. At nine years, average diameter of unthinned treatments (16.2 cm) was significantly less than the average diameter of the thinned treatments (19.0 cm). The application of P fertiliser or differences in management of slash and litter had no significant effect on mean tree diameter. The recovery of larger sawlogs was significantly higher in thinned (68%) than in unthinned treatments (25%). At nine years, the total stand volume of wood products from the thinned treatments (including the thinnings harvested in year four) was 340 m3 ha−1, which was 11 m3 ha−1 higher than for the unthinned treatments (329 m3 ha−1). The results suggest that a commercial mid-rotation thinning of A. auriculiformis in these environments can increase the value of these plantations to acacia growers.

Production of Tannin-based Natural Dye from Mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) Tree Bark Waste from Wood Chips Industry : A Feasibility Study

The potential effect of synthetic textile dyes towards human health and environment is much severe. Currently available dye in national and global market is dominated by synthetic commercial dye from various producers. Meanwhile, Indonesia demand for textile dye is increasing, but is not followed by production rate of textile dye. Producing environmentally friendly natural dye, which can compete in the global market, may solve those problems. A potential natural dye may be produced from tannin which is extracted from Mangrove bark. It has high yield with purity of 95% tannin (w/w) with solvent extraction method under moderate temperature condition. Mangrove tree bark is obtained from the side product of wood chips production. There are four species of Mangrove available for wood logging and chips producing activities namely Rhizophora Apiculata, Bruguiera Gymnorrhiza, B., Bruguiera Parviflora, and Ceriops Tagal. Mangrove can spread out the seed through the sea water naturally, making this wood reproduces widely and quickly. With proper treatment and logging management, considering the growth rate of mangrove, the sustainability of raw material is assured. The production of tannin will take place nearby the wood chips production. From 540 tonnes/month of mangrove bark as raw material, a 67 tonnes/month product could be extracted. The process will be carried out in small scale plant on empty land with area of 3.6 Ha. This plant has three units: raw material preparation, synthesis, and product purification. The product has desired purity and specification, and can be sold commercially. It also has the expected cash flow, and the profitability analysis result is also stunning. With Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) of Rp 141,896,000,000.- and operational Expenditure (OPEX) of Rp 28,842,000,000.-, the plant has Return on Investment of 27%. It has pay out time of 2.77 year, 19.08% DCFRR, Break Even Point at 40.85%, Shutdown Point at 10.25 %, IRR of 9.90%, and Net Present Value at Rp7,601,000,000.-. This investment also proves that at 5% change of raw material and products cost, the plant still overcomes the change and defend its profit state, making this investment feasible.

Производство щепы из лесосечных отходов на лесопромышленном складе при объеме заготовок 50–100 тыс. пл. м3 в год

Производство щепы из лесосечных отходов на лесопромышленном складе при объеме заготовок 50–100 тыс. пл. м3 в год

Технология производства щепы из затопленной древесины

Технология производства щепы из затопленной древесины

Environmental external cost of poplar wood chips sustainable production

Abstract In sustainable production, information about product costs should be complete. Not only economic but also environmental aspects need to be taken into consideration. The aim of this study was to estimate environmental external costs of poplar short rotation woody crops (SRWC) cultivation according to different soil enrichment procedures for wood chips production. The base scenario was to grow unfertilized crops. Three other scenarios were analyzed: mineral fertilization, lignin application, and combined lignin and mineral fertilization. The assessment of the environmental costs was based on emissions originating from production of poplar wood chips. The costs were calculated based on the emissions and their monetary value. The environmental external cost of the production of poplar chips was €137.24 ha−1 year−1 on average, and corresponded to 27.5% of the internal cost. The external cost of poplar chips production relative to a mass unit was €15.67 Mg−1 d.m. on average, corresponding to 20% of the total production cost. Our analysis shows that field emission and harvest generate most of the external cost. The highest cost was associated with particulate matter formation and terrestrial acidification.

Evaluation of novel drum chipper technology: pilot-scale production of short wood chips

Impregnation of wood chips with acidic pulping liquors is improved when using short chip lengths. If the average wood chip length is too short, conventional chipping technology will generate excess small material, such as pin chips and fines. The possibility of using newly developed drum chipping technology to produce shortlength wood chips was evaluated with a pilot drum chipper operating at different drum velocities and in-feed angles. With a drum velocity of 30 m/s, the average wood chip lengths and the combined fractions of pin chips and fines were 24 mm and 3.3%, 22 mm and 4.2%, and 17 mm and 8.5%. The highest fractions of total accept chips (large and small accepts), 89% to 90% without screening, were observed for drum velocities of 30–34 m/s and average wood chips lengths of 21–22 mm. The results indicate the potential of drum chipping technology for producing short wood chips with relatively high fractions of accept chips and tolerable fractions of pin chips and fines.

Uncertainty Simulation of Wood Chipping Operation for Bioenergy Based on Queuing Theory

Managing uncertainty is the way to secure stability of the supply chain. Uncertainty within chipping operation and chip transportation causes production loss. In the wood chip supply chain for bioenergy, operational uncertainty mainly appears in the moisture content of the material, chipping productivity, and the interval of truck arrival. This study theoretically quantified the loss in wood chip production by applying queuing theory and stochastic modelling. As well as the loss in production, the inefficiency was identified as the idling time of chipper and the queuing time of trucks. The aim of this study is to quantify the influence of three uncertainties on wood chip production. This study simulated the daily chip production using a mobile chipper by applying queuing theory and stochastic modelling of three uncertainties. The result was compared with the result of deterministic simulation which did not consider uncertainty. Uncertainty reduced the production by 14% to 27% compared to the production of deterministic simulation. There were trucks scheduled but not used. The cases using small trucks show the largest daily production amount, but their lead time was the longest. The large truck was sensitive to the moisture content of material because of the balance between payload and volumetric capacity. This simulation method can present a possible loss in production amount and enables to evaluate some ways for the loss compensation quantitatively such as outsourcing or storing buffer. For further development, the data about the interval of truck arrival should be collected from fields and analyzed. We must include the other uncertainties causing technical and operator delays.

Sustainability Assessment of Alternative Strip Clear Cutting Operations for Wood Chip Production in Renaturalization Management of Pine Stands

In Mediterranean regions, afforested areas were planted to ensure the permanence of land cover, and to protect against erosion and to initiate the vegetation processes. For those purposes, pine species were mainly used; however, many of these stands, without silvicultural treatments for over fifty-sixty years, were in a poor state from physical and biological perspective, and therefore, clear-cutting on strips was conducted as silvicultural operation with the aim to eliminate 50% of the pine trees and to favor the affirmation of indigenous broadleaves seedlings. At the same time, the high and increasing demand of the forest based sector for wood biomass related to energy production, needs to be supplied. In a modern and multifunctional forestry, in which society is asking for sustainable forestry and naturalistic forest management, forestry operations should ideally be carried out in a sustainable manner, thus support the concept of sustainable forest management. All these aspects are also related to the innovation in forestry sector for an effective energetic sustainability. Three different forest wood chains were applied in pine plantations, all differing in the extraction system (animal, forestry-fitted farm tractor with winch, and double drum cable yarder). The method of the sustainability impact assessment was used in order to assess potential impacts of these alternative management options, and a set of 12 indicators covering economic, environmental, and social dimensions was analyzed. Further, to support decision makers in taking informed decisions, multi-criteria decision analysis was conducted. Decision makers gave weight towards the indicators natural tree regeneration and soil biological quality to support the achievement of the forest management goal. Results showed that first ranked alternative was case 2, in which extraction was conducted by a tractor with a winch. The main reason for that lies in the fact that this alternative had best performance for 80% of the analyzed criteria.

Production and laboratory testing of paper sludge and wood chips blend pellets

Pellets are not only made of wood or herbaceous plants. The use of various waste materials and their mixtures can also be used for energetic purposes. Waste pellets can be used in larger industrial plants or in combustion plants with appropriate flue gas cleaning and filtering equipment. During the research, pellets were produced of varying proportions of paper sludge and pine wood shavings as wood industrial by-products. The energetic properties of pellets and raw materials were investigated and extended our previous researches to produce an estimated energy balance for the use of paper sludge as pellet. The energy utilization of paper sludge is important because it is produced in large quantities in pulp and paper plants.

Short-term and long-term bending properties of nail-laminated timber constructed of fast-grown plantation eucalypt

Developing higher-value structural products from fast-growing eucalypt plantations - that are currently managed for woodchip production - can create new markets for these plantation resources and ensure a sustainable supply of timber for building construction. In this study, structural nail-laminated timber (NLT) panels with different span lengths were manufactured from a 16-year-old fast-grown Eucalyptus nitens plantation using a lamination system that can maximise the use of lower-grade boards in NLT production. The short-term bending performance in the elastic region and the effects of environmental conditions and structural grade of timber on long-term bending creep deflection of the panels were evaluated. The data analysis revealed that the current visual stress-grading method is incapable of estimating the actual modulus of elasticity (MOE) of the plantation Eucalyptus nitens timber. A linear regression model was proposed using the actual MOE of the boards that can predict the MOE of NLT panels with an average accuracy of 98%. The NLT panels made with higher-grade boards showed 22.4% greater MOE values than the NLT panels made with lower-grade boards. The lamination system used resulted in NLT panels with predictable and customised MOE with a remarkable average coefficient of variance of less than 2.6%. The long-term bending creep deflection of the test panels was significantly affected by daily variations in the relative humidity of the environment and structural grade of the timber used. The results of this study can be used in the development of an appropriate NLT production system from fast-grown plantation eucalypt.

Production of Chips from Logging Residues and Their Quality for Energy: A Review of European Literature

Wood chips from logging residues are a renewable solid fuel that has become widely used in the energy sector. The current work presents a review of European papers on various aspects of wood chips production published in the years 2005–2018. The effects of the comminution method on the quality and energy parameters of the resulting wood chips were analysed. Most authors identified terrain and roadside chipping as the optimum technologies from the energy viewpoint. Furthermore, seasonal changes in the moisture content of wood chips have implications for their ash content and calorific value and determine the annual patterns of supplies to energy plants. In general, logging residues should be chipped approximately five to seven months after harvesting and delivered over economically feasible distances, which have increased in recent years due to the large dispersion of forest areas and energy plants. In a number of cases, logging residue chips did not meet the quality specifications contained in the relevant ISO standards, which may result in technological problems with their burning, especially in small to medium energy plants.

Application of Multi Criteria Decision Making for the Selection of Optimal Solid Wood Fuel Supply

Production of solid fuels from wooden biomass is defined with appropriate energy chain of supply. The notion of energy chain concept has been defined as the trajectory of energy transformations from the fuel source or energy sources to useful energy form to end users. Supply chain for production solid fuels from wooden biomass is also energy chain with high importance in biomass energy planning. In this paper, base for testing and research is developed mathematical model in previous published paper with preliminary note titled as “Multi-Criteria Optimization Concept for the Selection of Optimal Solid Fuels Supply Chain from Wooden Biomass“ at Croatian Journal of Forest Engineering. Three supply chains have been included in comparison: production of wood chips at the terminal – variant 1, production of pellet – variant 2 and production of wood chips by means of a mobile chipper in a forest – variant 3. The VIKOR methodology is used for total ranking all mentioned chains. Real input data have been used for mathematical calculation correspond to Bosnia and Herzegovina conditions.

Can various bioenergy technologies add value to each other?

Abstract Bioenergy is sustainable and sufficient only if both the production technology and coproduct utilisation are environmentally friendly. Hence, we suggest the establishment of small-scale willow Short Rotation Coppice close to biogas plants to solve the digestate utilisation problems and to promote woodchip production without mineral fertilisers. Our small-scale experiment with young Salix plants revealed that application of biogas digestate increased plant biomass production. However, an overdose of added nutrients can be harmful and cause young plant dieback due to root damage. The impact of digestate on plants in our experiment was similar or even superior to the impact of the original slurry used for anaerobic digestion by the same biogas plant. Therefore we conclude that anaerobic fermentation did not degrade the nutrient uptake by plants and digestate can replace traditional organic fertilisers in non-food crops.

Produzione di legna da ardere da cedui di eucalipto a turno breve: produttività di lavoro e costi

Traditionally, the utilization of short rotation coppices focuses on production of wood chips for energy or industrial purposes. In recent years, due to the lack of funding in the RDPs of the regions, surfaces destined to this type of crop were drastically reduced, causing a crisis in the wood chip market. It is therefore necessary to think of new forms of use, which in the case of eucalyptus could be represented by firewood. On this subject, within the AGROENER project, a research action is carried out with the aim on recovery and valorisation of residual biomasses of forest utilization and verification of the economic sustainability of firewood production from eucalyptus coppices managed as short rotation. During the utilization of a 4-year-old coppice, two firewood production systems have been compared: the traditional one, the Short Wood System (SWS) and the Whole Tree System (WTS). The growing stock per hectare was 73.56 t, with 68% (49.91 t) of firewood. The gross productivity of the work site, adopting the SWS, was 0,77 t h -1 per operator, respect to 0,86 t h -1 obtained with WTS. Wood production costs were € 30.78 t -1 for the SWS, and € 28.59 t -1 for the WTS, with values per hectare of € 2,264 and € 2,103, respectively. Considering equal to € 60 t -1 the current sale value of firewood and € 10 t -1 that of residuals (only for the WTS), the gain for both work systems are 9.93 € t -1 for the SWS and € 15.33 t -1 for the WTS. These results are discussed in relation to economic and environmental aspects of the forest utilization.

The energy intensity of the production of energy chips from dendromass stands on long-term uncultivated agricultural land

Abstract The aim of this work was to investigate the energy intensity of the fuel wood chips production on unused agricultural land. The unused agricultural land, overgrown with forest trees, also called white areas, is the result of the end of the traditional intensive management of agricultural land by the natural succession of forest stands and pioneers’ wood species on the borders of forest and non-forest land. These stands are advantageously localized due to previous method of the land utilization, accessible and therefore very interesting from the point of view of obtaining fuel dendromass. The logging and subsequent dendromass processing was carried out for the purpose of further land use as pasture land and also for the production of fuel wood chips and their subsequent sale to the end user. With the utilization of technology chain saw-forwarder-chipper, the energy intensity of each operation, expressed in terms of the amount of fuel consumed per unit of produced wood fuel, was determined. The share of energy consumed in the energy value of the harvested tree dendromass in the evaluated sites ranged from 0.43 to 0.62%, approximately 0.64 to 0.88% and the chipping 0.42 to 0.54%. The total amount of energy consumed after calculation the chipper transfers to an average distance of 180 km was within 1.46 to 2.11%. The average weight of the harvested trees caused the biggest impact on the energy intensity of the production process.

Response surface methodology to simplify calculation of wood energy potency from tropical short rotation coppice species

Short Rotation Coppice (SRC) system is an option to provide renewable and sustainable feedstock in generating electricity for rural area. Here in this study, we focussed on application of Response Surface Methodology (RSM) to simplify calculation protocols to point out wood chip production and energy potency from some tropical SRC species identified as Bauhinia purpurea, Bridelia tomentosa, Calliandra calothyrsus, Fagraea racemosa, Gliricidia sepium, Melastoma malabathricum, Piper aduncum, Vernonia amygdalina, Vernonia arborea and Vitex pinnata. The result showed that the highest calorific value was obtained from V. pinnata wood (19.97 MJ kg-1) due to its high lignin content (29.84 %, w/w). Our findings also indicated that the use of RSM for estimating energy-electricity of SRC wood had significant term regarding to the quadratic model (R2 = 0.953), whereas the solid-chip ratio prediction was accurate (R2 = 1.000). In the near future, the simple formula will be promising to calculate energy production easily from woody biomass, especially from SRC species.