%0 Research article
%T Harvesting alternatives, accumulation and procurement cost of small-diameter thinning wood for fuel in Central Finland
%A Laitila, Juha
%A Heikkilä, Jani
%A Anttila, Perttu
%D 2010
%J Silva Fennica
%V 44
%N 3
%R doi:10.14214/sf.143
%U https://silvafennica.fi/article/143
%X This study compared harvesting alternatives, accumulation and  procurement costs of small-diameter thinning wood chips for fuel, when  trees were harvested either as delimbed stemwood or whole trees. The  calculation was made for a hypothetical plant located in Central Finland  and the radius of the procurement area was 100 km via the existing road  network. Cutting was done with conventional harvester head equipped  with multi-tree-handling (MTH) accessories, with the logged trees being  chipped at the roadside storage. The cost of delimbed stemwood chips at  heating plant was 24% higher compared to the cost of whole tree chips.  The availability analysis attested that delimbing lowered the regional  cutting removal by 42% compared to the whole tree harvesting, when the  minimum accumulation for the fuel fraction at the stand was set at 25 m<sup>3</sup>/ha.  Delimbing diminishes the recovery rate at the site, resulting in a  diminishing number of potential recovery sites meeting the threshold  volume. However, the study showed that the forest energy potential is  increased and procurement costs are reduced, if delimbed stemwood is  harvested from stands where the whole tree harvesting is not acceptable  due to nutrient loss or for other ecological reasons. Intelligent  selection of cutting methods for different stands enables minimization  of transport distance and control of procurement cost.