Felipe de Miguel-Díez, Thomas Purfürst, Mauricio Acuna, Eduardo Tolosana-Esteban, Tobias Cremer. (2023). Estimation of conversion factors for wood stacks in landings and their influencing parameters: a comprehensive literature review for America and Europe. Silva Fennica vol. 57 no. 1 article id 22018. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.22018

Keywords: log properties; roundwood measurement; roundwood purchase; stack properties; wood supply chain

Highlights: Midpoint diameter, stacking quality, crookedness, log length, delimbing quality and bark thickness strongly influence the conversion factors; In Europe and America, a total of 48 methods were developed to estimate the conversion factors of wood stacks; The conversion factors should be estimated for each wood assortment and tree species.

Abstract | Full text in HTML | Full text in PDF | Author Info

In commercial transaction of stacked roundwood, the estimation of the stack net volume plays a key role. One generalized method to determine the net volume is using conversion factors that relate the gross and net volumes. In this literature review the developed methods to estimate the conversion factors as well as their influencing parameters were analyzed based on 153 references from America and Europe. According to the results, 48 different methods (including their variants) for estimating the conversion factors were developed. The newest methods enabled their accurate determination inexpensively, e.g., photo-optical methods or 3D simulation models. The analyzed references revealed that 30 parameters influence the conversion factors. Based on this comprehensive review, each stakeholder involved in the roundwood supply chain can know which method is used for estimating the conversion factors in the analyzed territories and which influencing parameters should be considered when purchasing roundwood in order to accurately assess the solid wood content in the stacks.

de Miguel-Díez, Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development, Department of Forest Utilization and Timber Markets, Eberswalde, Germany; University of Freiburg, Chair of Forest Operations, Freiburg, Germany https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3800-7449 E-mail: felipe.diez@hnee.de
Purfürst, University of Freiburg, Chair of Forest Operations, Freiburg, Germany https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9661-0193 E-mail: thomas.purfuerst@foresteng.uni-freiburg.de
Acuna, University of the Sunshine Coast, Forest Research Institute, Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia E-mail: macuna@usc.edu.au
Tolosana-Esteban, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, E.T.S.I. Montes, Forestal y del Medio Natural, Madrid, Spain https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2561-0342 E-mail: eduardo.tolosana@upm.es
Cremer, Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development, Department of Forest Utilization and Timber Markets, Eberswalde, Germany https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7866-944X E-mail: Tobias.Cremer@hnee.de

Click this link to register to Silva Fennica.

If you are a registered user, log in to save your selected articles for later access.

Contents alert

Your selected articles

Follow @SilvaFennica