Development of Low-Cost Portable Spectrometers for Detection of Wood Defects.

Portable spectroscopic instruments are an interesting alternative for in-field and on-line measurements. However, the practical implementation of visible-near infrared (VIS-NIR) portable sensors in the forest sector is challenging due to operation in harsh environmental conditions and natural variability of wood itself. The objective of this work was to use spectroscopic methods as an alternative to visual grading of wood quality.

Exposure of mobile chipper operators to diesel exhaust.

The current boom of forest biomass is making mobile chippers increasingly popular among forest operators. This motivates concern about the potential exposure of chipper operators to noxious chemicals derived from diesel fuel combustion. The objective of this study was to determine operator exposure to BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) generated from diesel combustion.

Technology alternatives for tapping the pruning residue resource.

Four commercial harvesters were compared with respect to recovery of pruning residues for energy conversion. These harvesters were tested side-by-side on 17 test fields, totaling 15 ha. The test fields consisted of vineyards and apple and pear orchards.

Performance of a mobile mechanical screen to improve the commercial quality of wood chips for energy.

The study analyzed the performance of a mobile screening device for upgrading coarse wood chips to residential user standards, by removing oversize particles and fines. The machine was designed for transportation to forest landings, logistic terminals and plant chip yards. Average productivity was 1.

Relating safety, productivity and company type for motor-manual logging operations in the Italian Alps.

The study compared the performance of four different logging crews with respect to productivity, organization and safety. To this purpose, the authors developed a data collection method capable of providing a quantitative analysis of risk-taking behavior. Four crews were tested under the same working conditions, representative of close-to-nature alpine forestry.

Industrial harvesting of olive tree pruning residue for energy biomass.

In Mediterranean countries, olive tree pruning residue represents an abundant source of energy biomass, still largely unexploited for lack of cost-effective harvesting technology. The authors tested two industrial pruning harvesters, capable of overcoming the limits of lighter units appeared in the past years. One of the machines was designed for application to a powerful farm tractor, whereas the other was a self-propelled dedicated harvester.