¦LOGISTICS He estimates the average site preparation cost savings of harvesting the leftover biomass on a 25-acre clear cutting site, instead of burning it, at roughly $100 to $400 per acre. So, at 25 acres with an average savings of $200 that means a $5,000 savings. The equipment typically required to burn the slash costs between $500 to $1,200 per day; a fire truck rental costs $50 to $100 an hour, and a standby fire crew will run about $15 per hour of labor. The message of Standley’s presentation: Biomass contractors can eliminate all of these expenses, while reinvigorating forests and even making money. To do that, a harvesting team or a project developer needs to be mindful that the bulk of the costs is tied up in transport. “Of all the cost centers, to get biomass from the field to the plant, transport in our experience is the highest and most significant cost,” says Tad Mason, CEO of TSS Consultants. Combating those costs safely means understanding the latest technology and equipment options available. “We’ve tried various methods,” Standley explains. “We had some used trailers, but they would break down. Taking those chip trailers up in the brush, they just weren’t built for it. We got by, but to be consistent every day we needed something better.” By better, Standley means a trailer that is durable enough, light enough and easily maneuverable on tough curves. The trailer also has to have enough capacity to haul at least 16 bone dry tons, it has to be simple to hook up, simple to stage and the jacks shouldn’t sink into the mud.
In 2011, Mason tried to find the best, or at least a better trailer like the one Standley described. Through a study for the Sierra Institute for Community and Environment, Mason analyzed four separate biomass trailering options for a California-based wood waste removal project: 1. Conventional trailer with a straight bed featuring a length of 59 feet, a width of 8.5 feet, a weight capacity of 40 gross tons or 25 net tons, and a volume capacity of 21 cubic units. 2. Conventional trailer with a drop bed featuring a total length of 64 feet, a width of 8.5 feet, a weight capacity of 40 gross tons or 25 net tons, and a volume capacity of 27 cubic units. 3. Short trailer with a length of 49 feet, a width of 8.5 feet, weight capacity of 40 gross tons or 25 net tons, and a volume capacity of 19 cubic units. 4. Stinger steer with a length of 56.7 feet, a width of 8 feet, a weight capacity of 40 gross tons or 21 net tons, and a volume capacity of 21 cubic units. The biomass removal project directors then chose two of the four options, the short trailer and the stinger steer trailer, which will follow the path of the truck wheels more closely as if the trailer is being steered. The biomass was transported 100 miles from the site and the costs for using each trailer varied. The cost per hour of operation of the stinger steer totaled $90, the short trailer, $85. Hauling costs for the short trailer were $19.14 per green ton of biomass and almost $50 per bone dry ton, while costs for the stinger steer were roughly
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48 BIOMASS POWER & THERMAL | APRIL 2012