Conceptual Specification of Forest Utility Balers for Wody Biomass

The new-concept biomass balers stem from recommendations of the forest engineering team at Humboldt State University to sort logging slash into poles that can be transported with conventional log trucks and into piles of finer tops and branches. While cost-effective collection and transport of small-diameter poles is well understood, handling and processing of branches and tops is problematic. Thus, the conventional forest management practice is to burn the piled fine woody biomass when weather conditions allow. Instead of burning the slash piles, the finer materials from slash including brush, tree tops and limbs can be ground into hog fuel on-site and transported in chip vans, or potentially can be baled by the envisioned new class of forestry balers for removal from the forest and processed into higher value products off-site.