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Volume 12
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10.3390/f12080979
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Article

Forest Biomass Collection from Systematic Mulching on Post-Fire Pine Regeneration with BioBaler WB55: Productivity, Cost and Comparison with a Conventional Treatment

by
Eduardo Tolosana
1,*,
Raquel Bados
2,
Rubén Laina
1,
Narcis Mihail Bacescu
1 and
Teresa de la Fuente
1
1
Department of Forest and Environmental Engineering and Management, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, E.T.S.I. Montes, Forestal y del Medio Natural, C/José Antonio Nováis 10, 28040 Madrid, Spain
2
Centro de Desarrollo de Energías Renovables—Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas Medioambientales y Tecnológicas CEDER-CIEMAT, (Renewable Energies Development Center—Energy, Environment and Technology Research Center), Highway A-15, km 56, 42290 Lubia, Soria, Spain
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Forests 2021, 12(8), 979; https://doi.org/10.3390/f12080979
Submission received: 22 June 2021 / Revised: 15 July 2021 / Accepted: 20 July 2021 / Published: 23 July 2021
(This article belongs to the Section Forest Operations and Engineering)
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Abstract

Post-wildfire regenerated Mediterranean pine stands have a high risk of wildfire recurrence. Preventive clearings are frequently applied in a mix of systematic and selective ways, being a potential biomass source using technologies such as the collector-bundler BioBaler WB55. Our research aimed to compare the BioBaler with a chain mulcher performing systematic mulching of 50% vs. 67% of stand surface over 11.4 ha dominated by Pinus pinaster Ait. regenerated after a severe wildfire. Time studies included the machinery GPS follow-up and the weighing of each produced bale. Environmental aspects were also assessed. A regression curve related BioBaler weight productivity (odt·Workh−1) to pine biovolume (cover (%) average tree height, m). Surface productivity (stand ha·Workh−1) was greater for both technologies when a lower percentage of the total surface was cleared, but less than theoretically predicted. The BioBaler’s economic balance, including the cost of further selective clearing and the income from biomass selling, was costlier than that of the mulcher—in the most representative strata, 475 EUR·ha−1 vs. 350 EUR·ha−1. Under the studied conditions, BioBaler was not economically competitive with the conventional treatment, its main constraint being low collection efficiency (31% of the standing biomass in the cleared surface, 5.33 out of 17.1 fresh tonnes·ha−1).
Keywords: forest biomass harvesting; biomass baling; forest fire prevention; time study; forest mechanization forest biomass harvesting; biomass baling; forest fire prevention; time study; forest mechanization

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MDPI and ACS Style

Tolosana, E.; Bados, R.; Laina, R.; Bacescu, N.M.; de la Fuente, T. Forest Biomass Collection from Systematic Mulching on Post-Fire Pine Regeneration with BioBaler WB55: Productivity, Cost and Comparison with a Conventional Treatment. Forests 2021, 12, 979. https://doi.org/10.3390/f12080979

AMA Style

Tolosana E, Bados R, Laina R, Bacescu NM, de la Fuente T. Forest Biomass Collection from Systematic Mulching on Post-Fire Pine Regeneration with BioBaler WB55: Productivity, Cost and Comparison with a Conventional Treatment. Forests. 2021; 12(8):979. https://doi.org/10.3390/f12080979

Chicago/Turabian Style

Tolosana, Eduardo, Raquel Bados, Rubén Laina, Narcis Mihail Bacescu, and Teresa de la Fuente. 2021. "Forest Biomass Collection from Systematic Mulching on Post-Fire Pine Regeneration with BioBaler WB55: Productivity, Cost and Comparison with a Conventional Treatment" Forests 12, no. 8: 979. https://doi.org/10.3390/f12080979

APA Style

Tolosana, E., Bados, R., Laina, R., Bacescu, N. M., & de la Fuente, T. (2021). Forest Biomass Collection from Systematic Mulching on Post-Fire Pine Regeneration with BioBaler WB55: Productivity, Cost and Comparison with a Conventional Treatment. Forests, 12(8), 979. https://doi.org/10.3390/f12080979

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