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An Innovative System for Maize Cob and Wheat Chaff Harvesting: Simultaneous Grain and Residues Collection

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  • Simone Bergonzoli

    (Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricotura e l’Analisi dell’Economia Agraria (CREA), Centro di Ricerca Ingegneria e Trasformazioni Agroalimentari, 24047 Milan, Italy)

  • Alessandro Suardi

    (Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricotura e l’Analisi dell’Economia Agraria (CREA), Centro di Ricerca Ingegneria e Trasformazioni Agroalimentari, 00015 Rome, Italy)

  • Negar Rezaie

    (Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricotura e l’Analisi dell’Economia Agraria (CREA), Centro di Ricerca Ingegneria e Trasformazioni Agroalimentari, 00015 Rome, Italy)

  • Vincenzo Alfano

    (Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricotura e l’Analisi dell’Economia Agraria (CREA), Centro di Ricerca Ingegneria e Trasformazioni Agroalimentari, 00015 Rome, Italy)

  • Luigi Pari

    (Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricotura e l’Analisi dell’Economia Agraria (CREA), Centro di Ricerca Ingegneria e Trasformazioni Agroalimentari, 00015 Rome, Italy)

Abstract

Maize and wheat are two of the most widespread crops worldwide because of their high yield and importance for food, chemical purposes and livestock feed. Some of the residues of these crops (i.e., maize cob and wheat chaff) remain in the field after grain harvesting. In Europe, just maize cob and grain chaff could provide an annual potential biomass of 9.6 Mt and 54.8 Mt, respectively. Collecting such a biomass could be of interest for bioenergy production and could increase farmers’ income. Progress in harvest technology plays a key role in turning untapped by-products into valuable feedstocks. This article presents a study of the performance and the quality of the work of Harcob, an innovative system developed for maize cob collection. Furthermore, the feasibility of using the Harcob system to also harvest wheat chaff during wheat harvesting was also verified. The results showed that it was possible to harvest 1.72 t ha −1 and 0.67 t ha −1 of cob and chaff, respectively, without affecting the harvesting performance of the combine. The profit achievable from harvesting the corn cob was around 4%, while no significant economic benefits were observed during the harvesting of wheat chaff with the Harcob system. The use of cereal by-products for energy purposes may allow the reduction of CO 2 from fossil fuel between 0.7 to 2.2 t CO 2 ha −1 . The Harcob system resulted suitable to harvest such different and high potential crop by-products and may represent a solution for farmers investing in the bioenergy production chain.

Suggested Citation

  • Simone Bergonzoli & Alessandro Suardi & Negar Rezaie & Vincenzo Alfano & Luigi Pari, 2020. "An Innovative System for Maize Cob and Wheat Chaff Harvesting: Simultaneous Grain and Residues Collection," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-15, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:5:p:1265-:d:330199
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Alessandro Suardi & Simone Bergonzoli & Vincenzo Alfano & Antonio Scarfone & Luigi Pari, 2019. "Economic Distance to Gather Agricultural Residues from the Field to the Integrated Biomass Logistic Centre: A Spanish Case-Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-14, August.
    2. Maung, Thein A. & Gustafson, Cole R., 2011. "The Viability of Harvesting Corn Cobs and Stover for Biofuel Production in North Dakota," 2011 Annual Meeting, July 24-26, 2011, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 103613, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. Weiser, Christian & Zeller, Vanessa & Reinicke, Frank & Wagner, Bernhard & Majer, Stefan & Vetter, Armin & Thraen, Daniela, 2014. "Integrated assessment of sustainable cereal straw potential and different straw-based energy applications in Germany," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 749-762.
    4. Arkadiusz Dyjakon & Tomasz Noszczyk & Martyna Smędzik, 2019. "The Influence of Torrefaction Temperature on Hydrophobic Properties of Waste Biomass from Food Processing," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-17, December.
    5. Subhash Paul & Animesh Dutta & Fantahun Defersha, 2018. "Mechanical and Alkaline Hydrothermal Treated Corn Residue Conversion in to Bioenergy and Biofertilizer: A Resource Recovery Concept," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-20, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Walter Stefanoni & Francesco Latterini & Javier Prieto Ruiz & Simone Bergonzoli & Consuelo Attolico & Luigi Pari, 2020. "Mechanical Harvesting of Camelina: Work Productivity, Costs and Seed Loss Evaluation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-14, October.
    2. Francesco Latterini & Walter Stefanoni & Alessandro Suardi & Vincenzo Alfano & Simone Bergonzoli & Nadia Palmieri & Luigi Pari, 2020. "A GIS Approach to Locate a Small Size Biomass Plant Powered by Olive Pruning and to Estimate Supply Chain Costs," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-17, July.
    3. Luigi Pari & Francesco Latterini & Walter Stefanoni, 2020. "Herbaceous Oil Crops, a Review on Mechanical Harvesting State of the Art," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-25, July.
    4. Alessandro Suardi & Sergio Saia & Walter Stefanoni & Carina Gunnarsson & Martin Sundberg & Luigi Pari, 2020. "Admixing Chaff with Straw Increased the Residues Collected without Compromising Machinery Efficiencies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-14, April.
    5. Dainius Steponavičius & Aurelija Kemzūraitė & Edvinas Pužauskas & Rolandas Domeika & Andrius Grigas & Deividas Karalius, 2023. "Shape Optimization of Concave Crossbars to Increase Threshing Performance of Moist Corn Ears," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-20, April.
    6. Walter Stefanoni & Francesco Latterini & Javier Prieto Ruiz & Simone Bergonzoli & Nadia Palmieri & Luigi Pari, 2020. "Assessing the Camelina ( Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz) Seed Harvesting Using a Combine Harvester: A Case-Study on the Assessment of Work Performance and Seed Loss," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.
    7. Alessandro Suardi & Walter Stefanoni & Simone Bergonzoli & Francesco Latterini & Nils Jonsson & Luigi Pari, 2020. "Comparison between Two Strategies for the Collection of Wheat Residue after Mechanical Harvesting: Performance and Cost Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-17, June.
    8. Walter Stefanoni & Francesco Latterini & Luigi Pari, 2023. "Perennial Grass Species for Bioenergy Production: The State of the Art in Mechanical Harvesting," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-12, February.
    9. Grzegorz Maj & Paweł Krzaczek & Wojciech Gołębiowski & Tomasz Słowik & Joanna Szyszlak-Bargłowicz & Grzegorz Zając, 2022. "Energy Consumption and Quality of Pellets Made of Waste from Corn Grain Drying Process," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-15, July.

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