The Effect of Conditioning Systems on Baling and Harvest of Miscanthus
Open Access
- Author:
- Redcay, Sebastian Lee
- Graduate Program:
- Agricultural and Biological Engineering
- Degree:
- Master of Science
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- November 10, 2015
- Committee Members:
- Jude Liu, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
- Keywords:
- Miscanthus
Harvest
Baling
Conditioning
Model - Abstract:
- Miscanthus is an emerging dedicated energy crop that will be crucial in helping to meet the goal set forth by the Department of Energy to produce 36 billion gallons of biofuels by 2022. While miscanthus provides excellent yield on marginal land, it is more difficult to harvest than many conventional energy crops such as corn stover and switchgrass due to its tall and rigid stalks. The harvesting of miscanthus was analyzed in this research to determine ways of cost reduction in the production of biofuels and to gather more information to be used in logistics models such as the BioFeed model. In order to determine the best method to harvest miscanthus, a series of field tests was performed to compare existing conditioning methods. Data on the processing capacities, energy requirements, and bale quality were collected. The information shows differences between the steel chevron roll and flail conditioning modules. A self-propelled windrower with a discbine header and a large square baler were used to harvest the miscanthus from a 20-hectare field in Illinois. Crop was collected from the field to determine the effects of roll spacing, roll speed, and crop input on the quality of conditioning in a lab setting. In the lab test the roll spacing was found to have the most significant impact on conditioning quality, shown by a 115% increase in conditioning over a 0.95 cm (75%) reduction in spacing. Increased roll spacing and speed were shown to decrease the amount of torque required to condition the miscanthus. In the field test, the windrower performed better statistically (p < 0.001) while using the flail conditioning module, increasing the average travel speed to 1.86 m/s, a 16% increase over steel roll conditioning. The fuel consumption of the windrower using the flail conditioning module (1.46 L/Mg DM) yielded a 17% reduction over the roll conditioning module (1.71 L/Mg DM) for windrower fuel consumption. The bales made from the flail-conditioned crop were also statistically shorter (p = 0.068) in length (2.49 m) and higher (p = 0.017) in density (168.09 kg m-3) than the length (2.54 m) and density (160.9 kg m-3) of roll-conditioned bales, suggesting that the flail conditioning method did a better job of breaking up the crop and creating more fractures than the roll conditioning. The information obtained from this study helps to better predict machine and manpower requirements for miscanthus harvest as well as monetary and energy costs associated with those requirements.