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Energy Savings in Agricultural Machinery and Mechanization PDF

151 Pages·1988·9.3 MB·English
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ENERGY SAVINGS IN AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY AND MECHANIZATION This study was carried out under contract at the Centre for Studies and Information of the European Communities upon request of the Directorate-General for Energy, Commission of the European Communities, Brussels, Belgium ENERGY SAVINGS IN AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY AND MECHANIZATION Edited by G. PELLIZZI Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Milan University, Italy A. GUIDOBONO CAVALCHINI and M. LAZZARI Institute of Agricultural Mechanics, University of Udine, Italy ELSEVIER APPLIED SC:IENCE LONDON and NEW YORK ELSEVIER APPLIED SCIENCE PUBLISHERS LTD Crown House, Linton Road, Barking, Essex IG 11 8JU, England Sole Distributor in the USA and Canada ELSEVIER SCIENCE PUBLISHING CO., INC. 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA WITH 21 TABLES AND 64 ILLUSTRATIONS ~) 1988 ECSC, EEC, EAEC, BRUSSELS AND LUXEMBOURG Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1988 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Energy savings in agricultural machinery and mechanization I. Agricultural energy savings equipment I. Pellizzi, G. II. Cavalchini, A. Guidobono III. Lazzari, M. 631.3'7 Library of Congress CIP data Energy savings in agricultural machinery and mechanization. Bibliography: p. 1. Agriculture-European Economic Community countries -Energy conservation. I. Pellizzi, G. II. Guidobono Cavalchini, A. III. Lazzari, M. TJI63.5.A37E54 1988 631.3 88-11071 ISBN-13: 978-94-010-7108-6 e-ISBN-13: 978-94-009-1365-3 001: 10.1007/978-94-009-1365-3 Publication arrangements by Commission of the European Communities, Directorate-General Telecommunications, Information Industries and Innovation, Luxembourg. EUR 11247 LEGAL NOTICE Neither the Commission of the European Communities nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission is responsible for the use which might be made of the following information. No responsibility is assumed by the Publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein. Special regulations for readers in the USA This publication has been registered with the Copyright Clearance Center Inc. (Ccq, Salem, Massachusetts. Information can be obtained from the CCC about conditions under which photocopies of parts of this publication may be made in, the USA. All other copyright questions, including photocopying outside the USA, should be referred to the publisher. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. v I N T ROD U C T ION In the context of the demonstration programme of the Directorate-General for Energy of the Commission of the European Communities on energy savings in the agricultural sector, the question of potential energy savings in agricultural machinery and mechanization is extremely import ant. Direct and indirect energy consumption in Community agriculture has a marked effect on the prices of agricultural products and on market com petition, and correct management of agricultural machinery and farming practices ~s bound to have a positive effect on the sector's economic performance. Since the i~formation available is fragmented and not always directly comparable, the Directorate-General for Energy has commissioned this study with the specific aim of quantifying the energy saving potential in the agricultural sector in a uniform manner so that future energy demon stration projects can be tailored to identified needs. The study was carried out under contract at the Centre for Studies and Information of the European Communities by Prof. G. Pellizzi of the In stitute of Agricultural Engineering of Mi lan UniversitY,by Prof. A. Guido bono Cavalchini of the Institute of Agricultural Mechanics of the Uni versity of Udine and by Mr. M. Lazzari, a researcher at the same Insti tute. The study contains a lengthy and comprehensive list of all exist ing agricultural machinery and current farming practices, and the energy saving potential of each. The study aims to give a preliminary summary of the various types of ene rgy-savi ng potenti <3'1: although some aspects need to be studi ed in greater detail for a more complete picture, it is nevertheless a useful tool for deciding the Communuty's approach and the basic priorities for action at Community and national level. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. P. Abbaticchio and Dr. R. Gabellieri for their valuable contribution in drafting the final document and Dr. H.E. Williams for his painstaking work on the English version of the text. G.L. FERRERO VB CONTENTS Introduction and summary 1 1 General considerations 2 1.1 Farming structure and mechanisation 2 1.2 Energy consumption 6 1.3 The\agricultura1 machines and tractor industry 9 1.4 Potential energy saving in field mechanisation 16 2 Operational schemes and energy requirements for the different crops 17 2.1 Cereals 18 2.1.1 Farming techniques 18 2.1.2 Energy consumptions 18 2.2 Forages 21 2.2.1 Farming techniques 21 2.2.2 Energy consumptions 21 2.3 Sugar beet 23 2.3.1 Farming techniques 23 2.3.2 Energy consumptions 24 2.4 Potatoes 24 2.4.1 Farming techniques 24 2.4.2 Energy consumptions 25 2.5 Oil seed crops 26 2.5.1 Farming techniques 26 2.5.2 Energy consumptions 26 2.6 Vineyards 27 2.6.1 Farming techniques 27 2.6.2 Energy consumptions 28 2.7 Fruit and citrus tree crops 29 2.7.1 Farming techniques 29 2.7.2 Energy consumptions 30 2.8 Olive trees 31 2.8.1 Farming techniques 31 2.8.2 Energy consumptions 31 2.9 Energy consumptions for handling in farming activities 32 2.10 Conclusions 33 Vlll 3 Tractors and agricultural aachines aanufacturing: Evolution and energy saving perspectives 35 3.1 Tractors and other agricultural vehicles 35 3.1.1 Engines 38 3.1.2 Tyres 44 3.1.3 Electronic control devices 46 3.1.4 Tractor architecture 57 3.1.5 Fuel oil replacement 61 3.1.6 Operative conclusions 72 3.2 Primary and secondary tillage machines 73 3.2.1 Ploughs 73 3.2.2 ,Rotary hoes and spading machines 80 3.2.3 'Secondary tillage 82 3.2.4 Operative conclusions 84 Auxiliary machines for crop cultivation 85 Machines for fertilizers distribution 85 Pesticides and herbicides spreaders - Alternative solutions 87 3.3.3 Transplantation and seeding machines 92 3.3.4 Operative conclusions 93 3.4 Harvesting machines 94 3.4.1 Grains harvesters (cereal kernels, oil-seeds, leguminosae, etc) 94 3.4.2 Forage harvesters 98 3.4.3 Sugar-beets harvesters 101 3.4.4 Potatoes harvesters 102 3.4.5 Fruit harvesters 102 3.4.6 Grapes harvesters 104 3.4.7 Olive harv~sters 105 3.4.8 Operative conclusions 107 4 Tractors and agricultural machines management - Evolution and energy saving perspectives 108 4.1 Present operating conditions of the machines 110 4.2 Operative conclusions 115 5 Actions to develop and their impact 117 5.1 Summary of the situation and obtainable benefits 117 5.2 Actions to be continued 118 5.2.1 Interventions in the primarY,sector 119 5.2.2 Interventions in the industrial sector 124 5.2.3 Operative conclusions 126 lX 6 Cost/benefit analysis and conclusions 128 6.1 Preliminary cost/benefit analysis 128 6.2 Conclusions 128 7 Main references 130 7.1 National energy balance and energy saving in general 130 7.2 Crops and agricultural practices energy requirements 132 7.3 Ene\gy saving through a more appropriate use of agricultural machines 133 7.4 Energy saving due to product and process innovations 136 8 Research institutes involved in energy saving in lIIechanisation 141 9 National manufacturers associations 143 INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY The aim of this work is to check the possibility of substantial energy savings in the European agricultural mechanisation. In this analytical survey the possibilities of energy saving in stationary plants nor the indirect savings in chemical inputs are considered. The analysis has been essentially bibliographical, without any direct experimental analysis. After some general considerations on the European farming structure and the present energy requirements of the sector, ,the European agricultural machines and tractors industry is outlined. At the start of this analytical survey, the working schemes and the energy requirements are examined for the different crops. The evolution of tractor manufacturing and the derived machines is also surveyed, gathering the specific implements into the main groups: tractors (and derived machines); soil tillage machines, intercultivation machines and harvesting machines. The evolution and the energy saving potential in tractors and farming machines management is examined and the actions for development are outlined. A cost/benefit analysis justifies the interest, for the EEC, to invest in agricultural energy saving and to extend this type of analysis to agricultural machinery not considered in the field operations. 2 1. - GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 1.1. - Farming structure and mechanization EEC agriculture is probably the most intensive in the world. The total cultivated area (arable and permanent crops) is estimated to be 79 million ha (table 1). With an EEC population of 319 million inhabitants, this figure corresponds to an average of 4 inhabitants per cultivated hectare. This value is double the corresponding average for the USA, three times higher than for the URSS, and five times higher than for Argentina. Moreover, the EEC farming is essentially based on small-medium size units (~), only 12-17 ha each, 10 times smaller than in the USA (in 1980: the average EEC farm size was 15.7 hal. This situation, related to the need to supply food and other raw materials for so many people by means of a structure scattered in different climates and various farming systems, induced the increase of mechanization to high levels, sometimes reaching supersaturation. Therefore the load on farm tractors and machines is very high (table 2) with a strong influence on the production cost as well as on the GSP (Qross ~alable froduct). This assessment represents a general approach, with particular situations varying from one country to another. Table 2 shows that the tractor density (tractors/l00 hal is only 3 for Portugal but 21 for The Netherlands. Combine harvesters also show this type of diversity: densities range from 0.4 combines/l00 ha in Portugal to 2.8 units/l00 ha in The Netherlands. Moreover, even inside each country some differentiations are observed. Fig.2 gives the combine density (units/l00ha) for some homogeneous cereal farming areas in France, Italy, Spain, Greece and Portugal. Consider, for example, France, the combines density varies from 0.3 (Landes) to 2.6 (Aisne). Finally recent calculations show that the mechanization costs, in Italy, in 1985, represent 15 to 16% of the GSP, while the energy consumption represents 5%. Considering the distribution of tractors and combines given in table 2, the figures for Italy could be assumed to be an average roughly valid for the whole European Community.

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