Full text of this article is only available in PDF format.

Jussi Laurila (email), Risto Lauhanen

Moisture content of Norway spruce stump wood at clear cutting areas and roadside storage sites

Laurila J., Lauhanen R. (2010). Moisture content of Norway spruce stump wood at clear cutting areas and roadside storage sites. Silva Fennica vol. 44 no. 3 article id 140. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.140

Abstract

Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) stump wood is a potential source of bioenergy in Finland. The heating value of stump wood depends on, among other things, the moisture, carbon and ash content of the wood. In this study the moisture content of Norway spruce stump wood was examined immediately after harvesting at the clear cutting area and after different drying times at the roadside storage sites. Immediately after stump harvesting the average moisture content (wet basis) was 53%. The stump wood dried fairly fast during spring and summer. One month after stump harvesting, the average moisture content was about 31%. If the stump wood had dried well once, water absorption became very weak and the moisture content increased only slightly in the late autumn. Each spring and summer the moisture content of the stumps was lower than during the previous year. Annually the lowest moisture content was observed at the beginning of July and the highest at both the beginning and the end of the year. The moisture content of stump wood followed an upwards opening parabola over a one year period and was repeated each year. Three years after harvesting the heating value of the stump wood was still 5.241 MWh/ton. Overall, when harvesting took place in the spring or early summer, the stump wood was combustible after a one month drying period immediately after harvesting.

Keywords
Picea abies; harvesting; bioenergy; moisture content; stump wood

Author Info
  • Laurila, Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences, School of Agriculture and Forestry, FI-63700 Ähtäri, Finland E-mail jussi.laurila@seamk.fi (email)
  • Lauhanen, Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences, School of Agriculture and Forestry, FI-63700 Ähtäri, Finland E-mail rl@nn.fi

Received 27 October 2009 Accepted 15 April 2010 Published 31 December 2010

Views 5974

Available at https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.140 | Download PDF

Creative Commons License CC BY-SA 4.0

Register
Click this link to register to Silva Fennica.
Log in
If you are a registered user, log in to save your selected articles for later access.
Contents alert
Sign up to receive alerts of new content

Your selected articles
Send to email
Wermann E., (1993) Outlooks of forestry in the European Community w.. Silva Fennica vol. 27 no. 1 article id 5498 (remove) | Edit comment
Rytter L., Stener L.-G. (2003) Clonal variation in nutrient content in woody bi.. Silva Fennica vol. 37 no. 3 article id 491 (remove) | Edit comment
Stankova T. V., (2015) A dynamic whole-stand growth model, derived from.. Silva Fennica vol. 50 no. 1 article id 1406 (remove) | Edit comment
Luukkanen O., (1981) Effects of gibberellins GA4 and GA7 on flowering.. Silva Fennica vol. 15 no. 4 article id 5129 (remove) | Edit comment
Laurila J., Lauhanen R. (2010) Moisture content of Norway spruce stump wood at .. Silva Fennica vol. 44 no. 3 article id 140 (remove) | Edit comment
Your search results