13.7.1 Modulization of Bales

Individual handling of bales (round or square) is not cost effective; it takes too long to load and unload the truck. Several concepts for a multibale handling unit are under development, and much of this development is still proprietary.

Permission was received to present a concept that was far enough along in development that second-year field tests were carried out in the 2012 fall-winter harvest season. The concept was developed by a consortium led by FDC Enterprises (K. Comer, personal communication) and is shown in Figure 13.9.

The self-loading trailer loads six stacks of six bales, referred to as “six-packs”, for a total load of 36 large rectangular bales (3 x 4 x 8 ft). The length of the load is 6 x 8 = 48 ft and the height is 3 x 3 = 9 ft. The width is 2 x 4 = 8 ft. The trailer built to implement the concept (Gary Kelderman, personal communication) is shown in Figure 13.10. Estimated load time is 5 min, about the same load time as the cotton module shown in Figure 13.2. In fact, the multibale unit emulates the cotton module system. The 36-bale unit can be

off-loaded by the truck directly onto the conveyor into a bioenergy plant, or it can be set on the ground in at-plant storage to be used later, just as is done with cotton modules at a cotton gin.