The importance of accurate measurement of comminuted logging residues’ moisture contents for small-scale forest owners

• Bioenergy from logging residues is an important contributor to Swedish energysupplies. Thus, accurate measurements of delivered logging residues’ energycontents are very important for both sellers and buyers. Deliveries’ energycontents are highly correlated with their moisture contents, and thus aredetermined in southern Sweden (and elsewhere) by measuring their masses andmoisture contents. There is insufficient knowledge, however, about the variation inmoisture content within and between deliveries, and hence the minimum numberof samples needed to obtain the required precision. Thus, these variations wereexamined in detail in the presented study. Nested analysis of the variance of theacquired data shows that at least nine samples are required to obtain estimates ofa delivery’s moisture content with a 3% margin of error. For high volume trade,such as that between forest companies and the energy-conversion industry,current measurement practices are sufficiently accurate. For private forest ownersmaking single deliveries, however, higher precision is required as inaccuratemeasurements can strongly affect prices.

Ämnesord

LANTBRUKSVETENSKAPER  -- Lantbruksvetenskap, skogsbruk och fiske -- Skogsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES  -- Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries -- Forest Science (hsv//eng)

LANTBRUKSVETENSKAPER  -- Lantbruksvetenskap, skogsbruk och fiske -- Trävetenskap (hsv//swe)

AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES  -- Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries -- Wood Science (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

forest residues

bioenergy

forest-fuel

scaling

moisture content

private forest owners

Forestry and Wood Technology

Skog och träteknik

Technology (byts ev till Engineering)

Teknik

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)