Paula Jylhä , Juha Laitila

Energy wood and pulpwood harvesting from young stands using a prototype whole-tree bundler

Jylhä P., Laitila J. (2007). Energy wood and pulpwood harvesting from young stands using a prototype whole-tree bundler. Silva Fennica vol. 41 no. 4 article id 470. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.470

Abstract

The productivity of cutting and bundling whole trees using the first prototype of a bundle-harvester comprised of a harwarder as the base machine, an accumulating felling head, and a compacting device was studied in three young stands in order to facilitate the further development of the concept. In addition, the removal and its composition were studied as a means of laying the foundations for developing methods for work rating and measurement on delivery. Bundling enables in-depth integration of pulpwood and energy wood procurement. Both energy wood (crown biomass) and pulpwood can be incorporated into the same bundles, and the subsequent separation of these fractions takes place at the debarking phase at the pulpmill. Bundle-harvesting productivities were relatively low (2.8–3.7 m³/E₀-h) when compared to current harvesting technology. Improving working techniques, machine structure, and components showed great potential for increasing the efficiency of the concept. The bundles were dimensionally uniform. Their solid volume varied between 0.350 m³ and 0.513 m³, depending on the bundle assortment and stand properties. Integrating energy wood harvesting with pulpwood harvesting increased removal even by 59 per cent.

Keywords
productivity; energy wood; pulpwood; bundling; integrated harvesting; Fixteri

Received 26 March 2007 Accepted 26 September 2007 Published 31 December 2007

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