Impact of Rainy and Dry Seasons on Eucalypt Fuelwood Quality Logs Stored in Piles

Abstract

The use of sugarcane bagasse, straw, and chaff for electrical power generation in sugar-ethanol mills has been established; more recently, the recovery of forest biomass has been increasing in an attempt to reduce the use of fossil fuels and to increase electrical power generation focused on self-consumption. The potential for power generation in this segment is considerable, but the use of biomass in cogeneration processes depends on an attractive return on investments. This study was designed to analyze the economic feasibility of investment in thermal and electrical power generation equipment that makes it possible to use forest and logging residues and wood chips to replace the current gas-fired power generation in an engineered wood panel industry facility (Scenario 1) or investment only in thermal generation equipment (Scenario 2). Results showed that the investment to replace natural gas with forest biomass is economically viable not only for the generation of both types of energy but also for the generation of thermal energy itself. High costs of energy inputs such as natural gas and electricity for the industry explain the results, despite the requirement for high investments in cogeneration systems.

Within-Stem Differences in Moisture Content Loss during Transpiration and Air-Drying of Felled Oak Trees

“…A number of experiments on natural drying were conducted in the second half of the 20th century, mainly in the 1980s [17,19,52,55]. However, recently, there has been a resurgence of interest in the topic of natural drying of wood for energy purposes, as biomass is increasingly an alternative to fossil fuels [25,56,57]. Variation in green density and MC are relevant for log transport planning, weight-scaling systems, lumber drying, and dynamic assessment of stiffness [58].…”

The Impact of Wood Moisture Content on the Productivity and Costs of Forest Energy Supply Chains in Southeast Brazil

“…Similarly, the demand for wood stored in log form decreased by 9.8% over the same period. This reduction is attributed to the higher daily drying that occurs from log storage [23], requiring a smaller amount of wood per unit of generated energy (m 3 MWh −1 ).…”

“…On the contrary, in-forest drying of logs (0.116% day −1 ) in supply chains II and III allows for greater MC losses due to storage, substantially reducing the volume of wood required by the power plant for its operation in the same storage period (Table 7). This demand for wood tends to stabilize as the biomass is stored in the field and reaches MC stabilization [23].…”

“…The wood moisture content (MC) can vary depending on the storage period and final use, with values of 53% and 30% common for freshly harvested and air-dried wood, respectively. In tropical conditions, the drying period for Eucalyptus logs can extend up to 180 days during the rainy season, directly affecting the energy content [23]. This affects the weight of the wood, which is related to the determination of its basic density (ratio of dry mass to saturated volume) and apparent density (ratio of mass to volume at a given MC).…”

Variability of Normative Properties of Wood Chips and Implications to Quality Control

“…Therefore, managing moisture content is a key way to improve the net calorific value and cost-efficiency of the energy wood supply [17]. Fortunately, natural drying of raw material in terms of transpirational drying of full-trees [18,19], seasoning of logging residues [20][21][22], energy roundwood [23][24][25][26][27][28], and firewood [29] proved to be an effective measure for reducing the moisture content. Reduction of moisture content is also possible while storing wood chips, either naturally [26,[30][31][32] or artificially [12,[33][34][35].…”