A new study of Mallee plantations in Western Australia has highlighted key factors in optimising harvest for supply of biomass. These types of plantations could be a considerable source of biomass to produce renewable energy.
This was a joint project between the University of the Sunshine Coast and WA-based McGrath Consulting. The supply chain of Mallee was modelled using BIOPLAN’s linear programming model to investigate the impact of tree size, extraction distance and transport distance on supply chain costs.
The results indicated that harvesting larger tree sizes can slightly diminish chipping cost. Extraction cost was also very sensitive to the extraction distance in this case study. Long transport distances in a larger management area (to meet higher energy demands) will highly increase the transport cost.
Click here for source (Croatian Journal of Forest Engineering)
Image Credit: Peter Woodard
