Pelleting Vineyard Pruning at Low Cost with a Mobile Technology

Giuseppe Toscano, Vincenzo Alfano, Antonio Scarfone and Luigi Pari
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Giuseppe Toscano: Department of Agriculture, Università Politecnica delle Marche, 60131 Ancona, Italy
Vincenzo Alfano: Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l’analisi dell’economia agraria (CREA), Centro di Ricerca Ingegneria e Trasformazioni agroalimentari, Via della Pascolare, 16, Monterotondo, 00015 Roma, Italia
Antonio Scarfone: Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l’analisi dell’economia agraria (CREA), Centro di Ricerca Ingegneria e Trasformazioni agroalimentari, Via della Pascolare, 16, Monterotondo, 00015 Roma, Italia
Luigi Pari: Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l’analisi dell’economia agraria (CREA), Centro di Ricerca Ingegneria e Trasformazioni agroalimentari, Via della Pascolare, 16, Monterotondo, 00015 Roma, Italia

Energies, 2018, vol. 11, issue 9, 1-17

Abstract: The goal of this work was to test a patented pruning harvester and a mobile pelleting system specifically designed for the vineyard agripellet chain. Biomass was characterized before and after storage and after the pelleting stage. The performance, the fuel consumption, and the work quality of the harvester were assessed together with the productivity and the power consumption of the mobile pelleting system. Production costs of pellet were estimated for the whole logistic chain, considering two scenarios: Storage and pelleting directly at the farm site or at a dedicated location at variable distance from the fields. For comparison, the direct production of chips without pelleting was considered. Results indicate that harvester performance was quite good and comparable with commercial solutions; the chips produced exhibited excellent storage performance, allowing direct pelleting without forced drying; the pellet quality was good comparable with that produced from forestry biomass. From an economic point of view, in-field pelleting was the most cost-effective solution, with a good margin of profit up to 57€ t −1 ; on the other hand, when transport to an intermediate storage center is necessary, profit margin reduces gradually and fades off at an average 50 km distance from the fields.

Keywords: agripellet; biomass; bioenergy; mobile pelleting plant; logistic chain; pruning harvester (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (19)

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