Forest and Biomass Harvest and Logistics

383 Pages·2022·14.93 MB·English

by  Jingxin Wang

Jingxin Wang
Forest and
Biomass
Harvest and
Logistics
Forest and Biomass Harvest and Logistics
Jingxin Wang
Forest and Biomass
Harvest and Logistics
123
Jingxin Wang
Division of Forestry and Natural Resources
West Virginia University
Morgantown, WV, USA
ISBN 978-3-031-12945-2 ISBN 978-3-031-12946-9 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-12946-9
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature
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The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
To my dear wife, Xiaoming Liang, and our
dear son, Jerry Wang.
Preface
Forest and biomass harvest and logistics, which concern the management of the flow
of forest or biomass products from harvesting sites to processing facilities or final
uses, play a critical role in regional bioeconomic development. Forest and biomass
harvest and logistics account for more than 50% of the total delivered cost of the
harvested products. Harvesting, as an integrated component of the sustainable forest
and biomass supply chain management, can produce sawlogs, veneer logs, pulp-
wood, chips, or other biomass products. The harvesting of forests or short rotation
woody crops (SRWCs)—including hardwood forests, pine plantations, hybrid
poplars, and willow shrubs for the production of lumber and pulpwood, or as a
feedstock for bioenergy—is accomplished through integrated human/machine/stand
interactions with a goal of minimizing costs and environmental impacts.
This book systematically discusses forest and woody biomass harvesting, har-
vesting machines, systems, logistics, and supply chain management, as well as
applications of harvesting principles in forest and biomass management practices.
Comprehensive reviews, case studies, and examples of field applications for each
of the chapters are also provided. The book consists of four sections with 18
chapters. Specifically, it is designed for students, researchers, educators, and
practitioners in the field of forest and biomass harvest and logistics. This book has
been used for WDSC 422—Harvesting Forest Products for both undergraduates
and graduates in the Division of Forestry and Natural Resources at West Virginia
University since 2000. The information contained in this book is a robust reference
resource for students who would be future forest and biomass managers, timber
contractors, entrepreneurs, researchers, and educators in the fields of forest and
biomass operations, engineering, and resource management.
This book also provides an in-depth understanding of (1) the functions and
applications of current and future harvesting technologies; (2) the unique charac-
teristics of each harvesting machine with respect to cost, safety, and environmental
issues; (3) estimations of machine productivity; and (4) methods of estimating cost
elements of the forest and biomass supply chain systems. It will also be able to help
improve knowledge of the decarbonization of forest and biomass harvest and
logistical processes to increase carbon sequestration while reducing the cost of
forest and biomass harvest and delivery. Specifically, the book covers
vii
viii Preface
• Forest and biomass harvesting technologies.
• Forest and biomass harvesting business.
• Modern harvesting equipment, methods, and systems.
• Precision forestry and future harvesting technologies.
• Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning applications in forestry practices.
• Methods for estimating harvesting productivity and costs.
• Woody biomass harvesting and analysis for bioenergy and bioproducts.
• Forest and biomass supply chain management and analysis.
• Forest best management practices.
• Soil and water impacts.
• System modeling, computer simulation, and optimization.
• Harvest planning.
• Harvest scheduling.
• Life cycle assessment and techno-economic analysis.
• Carbon sequestration and decarbonization.
I am indebted to many people who have assisted and inspired me in putting
together this book over the years. Specifically, I am grateful to Dr. W. Dale Greene,
Professor and Dean of the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at the
University of Georgia, for his inspiration and guidance, and for leading me to the
field of forest operations and management. I also thank my former and current
graduate students, Mr. Tony Goff, Mr. John Vance, Dr. Xufeng Zhang, Ms. Jinghan
Zhao, Mr. Wanhe Hu, Mr. William Smith, Mr. Bibek Aryal, and Drs. Adebola
Adebayo, Damon Hartley, Yaoxiang Li, Wenshu Lin, Weiguo Liu, Benktesh
Sharma, Yuxi Wang, and Jinzhuo Wu, for their assistance and contributions.
Special thanks go to Ms. April McGinnis for her great efforts to review and improve
this book. The materials contained in this book were also sourced from my previous
research, past field experience, research publications from different authors in
academic journals, and timber harvesting textbooks.
Morgantown, WV, USA Jingxin Wang
Contents
Part I Introduction
1 Introduction and Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1 Harvesting System Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2 Forest and Biomass Procurement, Logistics and Supply
Chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.3 Precision Forestry, Machine Learning, and Future
Harvesting Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2 Forest and Biomass Harvesting Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.1 Forest and Biomass Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.2 Harvesting Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.3 Contractual Services in Harvesting Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Part II Harvesting Techniques and Logistics
3 Felling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.1 Motor-Manual Felling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.2 Mechanized Felling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.3 Field Studies of Felling Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
4 In-Woods Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
4.1 Delimbing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
4.2 Bucking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4.3 Field Assessment of Hardwood Log Bucking
and Merchandising Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
4.4 Bucking Optimization of Tree Stems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
ix
x Contents
5 Ground-Based Extraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
5.1 Skidding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
5.2 Forwarding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
5.3 Shovel Logging and Tether-Assisted Harvesting . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
5.4 Field Studies of Extraction Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
6 Loading and Transportation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
6.1 Loading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
6.2 Transportation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
6.3 Field Assessment of Loading Efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
7 Cable and Aerial Harvesting Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
7.1 Cable Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
7.2 Aerial Yarding Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
7.3 A Case Study of Helicopter Logging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
8 Chipping and Thinning Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
8.1 Chipping Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
8.2 A Case Study of Chipping of Mixed Hardwoods . . . . . . . . . . . 125
8.3 Thinning Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
9 Biomass Harvesting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
9.1 Systems for Logging Residue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
9.2 Systems for Short Rotation Woody Crops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
9.3 Biomass Harvest Productivity and Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
9.4 Economic Modeling and Analysis of Biomass Harvest . . . . . . . 145
9.5 Tools for Biomass Harvesting System Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
9.6 Harvesting Small Diameter Hardwood Stands
for Biomass Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
10 Interactions of Stands, Harvest, and Machines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
10.1 Factors Affecting Interactions of Harvests, Stands,
and Machines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
10.2 Interactive Log Damages Associated with Harvesting
Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
10.3 Forest Harvesting Simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
10.4 A Simulation Study of Stand, Machine,
and Harvest Interactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Contents xi
Part III Harvesting Logistics Analyses
11 Production Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
11.1 Production Estimation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
11.2 Time and Motion Study Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
11.3 Computer-Based Time Study System for Timber Harvesting . . . 197
11.4 Statistical Modeling of Harvesting Productions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
12 Cost Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
12.1 Machine Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
12.2 Cash Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
12.3 Indirect Logging Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
12.4 Combining Cost and Productivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
13 Harvesting System Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
13.1 System Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
13.2 Spreadsheet Programs for Harvesting System Analysis . . . . . . . 225
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
14 Forest and Biomass Supply Chain Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
14.1 Overview of Forest and Biomass Supply Chains . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
14.2 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Processing
Facility Siting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
14.3 Supply Chain Optimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
14.4 Supply Chain System Analysis—Economic Feasibility
Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
14.5 Supply Chain System Analysis—Environmental Impacts
Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
14.6 A Case Study of Supply Chain Optimization for Multiple
Biomass Feedstocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
Part IV Harvesting Management and Planning
15 Managing Soil and Water Impacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
15.1 Soil and Water Impacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
15.2 Turbidity and Suspended Changes from Stream Crossing
Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
15.3 Soil Bulk Density Changes Caused by Mechanized
Harvesting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
15.4 Changes in Soil Bulk Density Resulting from Conventional
Cable Skidding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291