Analysis of energy wood supply chain in thinning operations: a case study in a pine stand of Central Italy

Analysis of energy wood supply chain in thinning operations: a case study in a pine stand of Central Italy

S, Baldini;F, Di Fulvio;G, Laudati;
forest@ 2010 Vol. 7 pp. 177-189
133
s2010analysisforest

Abstract

Thinning is an essential practice in Mediterranean pine forests management but is rarely applied because of the high harvesting costs. The new market of bioenergy products could give a profit to wood biomass harvesting activities, though the drawbacks of elevated supply chain costs, related to technical problems and lack of knowledge about the wood quality have to be overcome in advance. This study analyzed technical, economic, energy and environmental factors of a pine stand thinning in Central Italy, where collected biomass was directed to energy, in order to give a decisional support to reach economical profitability and environmental sustainability in thinning practices. The introduction of Full Tree System maximized the recovery of available biomass, full tree chipping produced material with Heating Value superior than single tree components. The use of a felling frame in motor-manual felling in comparison with the traditional chainsaw reduced operator effort, increasing the number of felled trees per hour, when the stump diameter remained under 15 cm. The energy wood supply chain is not sustainable from an economic point of view, the profitability could be reached only acting on suggested technical levers and particularly reducing costs of hauling operation. The estimation of output/input energy ratio in the supply chain underlined the feasibility of thinning practices for energy. The assessment of CO2 emissions confirmed the environmental sustainability of biomass supply chain in energy when compared to traditional fossil fuels. Study conclusions provide the guidelines for thinning treatment in Mediterranean pine stands, in order to reach environmental and economic sustainability of these practices.

Citation

ID: 86619
Ref Key: s2010analysisforest
Use this key to autocite in SciMatic or Thesis Manager

References

Blockchain Verification

Account:
NFT Contract Address:
0x95644003c57E6F55A65596E3D9Eac6813e3566dA
Article ID:
86619
Unique Identifier:
Network:
Scimatic Chain (ID: 481)
Loading...
Blockchain Readiness Checklist
Authors
Abstract
Journal Name
Year
Title
5/5
Creates 1,000,000 NFT tokens for this article
Token Features:
  • ERC-1155 Standard NFT
  • 1 Million Supply per Article
  • Transferable via MetaMask
  • Permanent Blockchain Record
Blockchain QR Code
Scan with Saymatik Web3.0 Wallet

Saymatik Web3.0 Wallet