1.1. Introduction to herbaceous biomass harvesting

Harvesting of cellulosic biomass, specifically herbaceous biomass, is done with a machine, or more typically a set of machines, that travel over the field and collect the biomass. These machines are designed with the traction required for off-road operation, thus they typically are not well suited for highway operation. Therefore, the transition point between "in-field hauling" and "highway hauling" is critical in the logistics system. In-field hauling is defined as the operations required to haul biomass from the point a load is created in-field to a storage location chosen to provide needed access for highway trucks. This hauling includes hauling in-field plus some limited travel over a public road to the storage location.

Harvesting systems can be categorized as coupled systems and uncoupled systems. Ideal coupled systems have a continuous flow of material from the field to the plant. An example is the wood harvest in the Southeast of the United States. Wood is harvested year-round and delivered directly to the processing plant. Uncoupled systems have various storage features in the logistics system.

Sugarcane harvesting is an example of a coupled system for herbaceous crops. The sugar cane harvester cuts the cane into billets about 38-cm long and conveys this material into a trailer traveling beside the harvester (Figure 1). The harvester has no on-board storage. Thus, a trailer has to be in place for it to continue to harvest. The trailer, when full, travels to a transfer point where it empties into a truck for highway hauling (Figure 2). Each operation is coupled to the operation upstream and downstream. It requires four tractors, trailers, and operators to keep one harvester operating. The trucks have to cycle on a tight schedule to keep the trailers moving. One breakdown delays the whole operation.

A "silage system" can be used to harvest high moisture herbaceous crops for bioenergy. With this system, a forage harvester chops the biomass into pieces about one inch (25.4 mm) in length and blows it into a wagon beside the harvester. This wagon delivers directly to a silo (storage location), if the field is close to the silo, or it dumps into a truck for a longer haul to the silo. All operations are coupled. That is, a wagon must be in place to keep the harvester moving, and a truck must be in place at the edge of the field to keep the wagons cycling back to the chopper. It is a challenge to keep all these operations coordinated.

A coupled system can work very efficiently when an industry is integrated like the sugarcane industry in South Florida, USA. Because the sugar mill owns the production fields surrounding the mill and the roads through these fields, the mill controls all operations (harvesting, hauling, and processing). Sugarcane has to be processed within 24 hours after harvest so the need for a tightly-controlled process is obvious.

An example of an uncoupled system is cotton production using the cotton harvester that bales cotton into 7.5-ft diameter by 8-ft long round bales of seed cotton. This system was developed to solve a limitation of the module system. With the module system, in-field hauling trailers (boll buggies), have to cycle continuously between the harvester and the module builder at the edge of the field. The best organized system can typically keep the harvester processing cotton only about 70% of the total field time. Harvesting time is lost when the harvester waits for a trailer to be positioned beside the harvester so the bin on the harvester can be dumped.

Baling is an uncoupled harvest system and this offers a significant advantage. Harvesting does not have to wait for in-field hauling. Round bales, which protect themselves from rain penetration, can be hauled the next day or the next week. Rectangular bales have to be hauled before they are rained on.