IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v7y2014i12p8374-8395d43536.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How Technology Can Improve the Efficiency of Excavator-Based Cable Harvesting for Potential Biomass Extraction—A Woody Productivity Resource and Cost Analysis for Ireland

Author

Listed:
  • Ger Devlin

    (School of Biosystems Engineering, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland)

  • Radomír Klvač

    (Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Department of Forest and Forest Products Technology, Mendel University, Brno, Czech Republic)

Abstract

Two cable logging systems were reviewed to compare the efficiency of potential biomass extraction from remote forest sites in Ireland based on productive machine hour (PMH) and unit cost of operation (€/m 3 ). Three operational scenarios (SC) were analysed where SC I was a three man crew operation (choker setter, the carriage operator and unhooking chokers). SC II was a variation of this with a two man crew operation. SC III was operating radio controlled chokers there was a two man crew (choker setter and carriage operator). The study aims to assess how operations in Ireland perform against previous known cable studies to determine whether the cost of timber extraction on remote forest sites inaccessible for mechanised felling, has a future given the increased demand for wood fibre in Ireland, both from the sawmilling industries and the wood for energy sector. The volume per PMH was recorded at 17.97 for SC I, 15.09 for SC II and 20.58 m 3 for SC III. The difference in productivity versus SC III remote controlled chokers is 5.49 m 3 /PMH for SC II crew and 2.61 m 3 /PMH for SC I. The decrease in total volume extracted from SCs I and II versus SC III was recorded at 15.69 m 3 (15%) and 32.97 m 3 (36%) product respectively. In value terms, the unit cost (€/m 3 ) varied from 6.29 (SC I) to 6.43 (SC II) to 4.57 (SC III). When looking at the production unit costs of normal wood energy supply chains in Ireland, the figures are similar ranging from 3.17 €/m 3 to 8.01 €/m 3 . The value of the end product of course will always determine which market the eventually goes to but given that cable log wood fibre has been unthinned and unmaintained then the biomass sector may be an ever increasing demand point in the search for increased woody biomass given that the unit costs can be competitive with other wood energy supply chains.

Suggested Citation

  • Ger Devlin & Radomír Klvač, 2014. "How Technology Can Improve the Efficiency of Excavator-Based Cable Harvesting for Potential Biomass Extraction—A Woody Productivity Resource and Cost Analysis for Ireland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 7(12), pages 1-22, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:7:y:2014:i:12:p:8374-8395:d:43536
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/7/12/8374/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/7/12/8374/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Spinelli, Raffaele & Magagnotti, Natascia, 2011. "The effects of introducing modern technology on the financial, labour and energy performance of forest operations in the Italian Alps," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(7), pages 520-524, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xiaodong Yuan & Weiling Song, 2022. "Evaluating technology innovation capabilities of companies based on entropy- TOPSIS: the case of solar cell companies," Information Technology and Management, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 65-76, June.
    2. Artsiom Shoshyn & Pavel Protas & Vladimír Štollmann, 2022. "New technological solutions for waterlogged forests by cable yarding," Journal of Forest Science, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 68(2), pages 46-60.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rachele Venanzi & Rodolfo Picchio & Raffaele Spinelli & Stefano Grigolato, 2020. "Soil Disturbance and Recovery after Coppicing a Mediterranean Oak Stand: The Effects of Silviculture and Technology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-20, May.
    2. Spinelli, Raffaele & Magagnotti, Natascia & Jessup, Eric & Soucy, Michel, 2017. "Perspectives and challenges of logging enterprises in the Italian Alps," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 44-51.
    3. Fuertes, A. & Oliveira, N. & Cañellas, I. & Sixto, H. & Rodríguez-Soalleiro, R., 2021. "An economic overview of Populus spp. in Short Rotation Coppice systems under Mediterranean conditions: An assessment tool for decision-making," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    4. Arkadiusz Dyjakon, 2018. "Harvesting and Baling of Pruned Biomass in Apple Orchards for Energy Production," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-14, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:7:y:2014:i:12:p:8374-8395:d:43536. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.