INDUSTRIAL HARVESTER FOR BIOMASS PROCUREMENT OF OLIVE TREES RESIDUES

摘要

In Mediterranean countries, olive tree pruning residue represents a problem for farmers. Increasingrestrictions to burn the residue on site force them to remove it by mulching, facing a cost and incurring in possibledisease problems. On the other hand the abundant residue is a potential source of energy biomass. This resource isstill unexploited for lack of cost-effective harvesting technology: the machinery available at present, designed forvineyard prunings, are too light for handling thicker material. Purpose of this work was to find and study machinescapable of setting up a reliable procurement system both from the technical and economic point of view.