Productivity and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of compact class vimek 404 T5 harvester in thinning of young birch stands in afforested cropland

Abstract

The aim of the study is to evaluate the productivity and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of the compact class Vimek 404 T5 harvester in thinning of birch plantations, including the determination of production costs to evaluate the possibility to use compact class forest machines in management of woody shelter belts around drainage systems in farmlands. A total of 69 m3 of logs were prepared in the experiments, the average diameter of the sawn tree was 10 cm (average stem volume was 0.06 m3). The average productivity of the harvester is 6.2 m3 per productive hour. Logging costs, according to the assumptions used in the study, are 21.1 EUR·m-3 (under the bark), including 8.1 EUR·m-3 of logging costs. The total CO2 emitted to produce and forward 1 m3 of timber (about 235 kg of carbon) is 3.6 kg, excluding chipping (1.3 kg m-3). According to the study results the hourly cost and CO2 emissions of a Vimek 404 T5 harvester is significantly smaller than of a middle-class harvester due to lower fuel consumption, maintenance costs and initial investments.