Cold hardy Eucalyptus forestry in Galicia (V): Biomass in 100 months!

Eucalyptus nitens: Biomass & Bioenergy woods from Galician planted forests (I)

Gustavo Iglesias Trabado
GIT Forestry Consulting SL - Consultoría y Servicios de Ingeniería Agroforestal - www.git-forestry.com - EUCALYPTOLOGICS

At this stage, if you have not heard about the new trends of forestry and planted forests as Vital Allies of the Planet to help tackle the effects of climate change, you are not fully aware that the range of expected products and services sourced from them is way beyond of the purely physically tangible timber. These are times where positive externalities are being incorporated into forestry businesses at unprecedented scale.

Besides their role as carbon sinks, happening no matter what and regardless of the final destination of the organically grown, renewable and recyclable timber produced in planted forests, these days are the days of renewable biofuels, and timber, as the first fuel (firewood) ever used by human beings, is one of the familiar pieces of the puzzle in development.

Fig. 1: 100 month old organic & renewable Eucalyptus woody biomass for energy harvested in Galicia (NW Spain). Also known as firewood harvest trial! (Click image to enlarge)

The main difference from days past to nowadays is that the occasional small scale firewood harvest for domestic use or charcoal is no longer the objective. The objective now is bioenergy production facilities using woody biomass as fuel, and refined technologies to convert such biomass into heat and/or electricity. This means, besides other less efficient fuel sources, the achievement of a stable and sustainable feedstock of woody biomass for energy sourced from purpose made energy crops. Why? Because that way it is relatively predictable, be it for volumes and allocation of biomass supply, delivery timings to bio-energy power plant, expected power output, and costs of heat or electricity unit produced using this renewable and carbon neutral non fossil fuel.

For such scenarios, the existence of trees able to be cultivated in short rotations, with fast enough growth rates to produce a noticeable output of timber (or, if you rather, calories stored in timber) per cultivated hectare, with predictable yield outputs, as low production costs as possible for the timber crop, and as high ROI as possible for timber crop investment, is paramount.

Fig. 2: 100 month old Eucalyptus nitens woody biomass before harvesting. You can see the trees in their whole size, and also a happy forester seeing they behave as expected in fast growth terms for this site! (Click image to enlarge)

So, which multi-purpose trees can have the best potential as woody biomass sources in humid Atlantic climates? Those more efficiently already converting light, water and nutrients into organic, renewable and predictable timber, from sea level to the snowlands. And certainly, very few other than plantation grown Eucalyptus can well match that description!

With a wide scale tree cultivation history spanning over 50 years, Northwestern & Northern Spain are some of the most productive timber hubs in Atlantic Europe, precisely thanks to Eucalyptus. In fact, Galician Eucalyptus timber harvest output currently means 1 out of each 4 logs harvested yearly in Spain.

Fig. 3: Tree Inventory detail showing Eucalyptus nitens fast growth potential (+20 cm DBH- Diameter at Breast Height, 100th month). (Click image to enlarge)

Over 10 different eucalypt species are grown as timber crops in the area, and the range of products sourced locally from these trees is as wide as high quality Eucalyptus solidwood for carpentry and furniture making, raw material for board and panel manufacture, or excellent raw timber for cellulosic pulp and paper production.

Eucalyptus timber use as biomass for energy is something not that new wherever these trees are cultivated. Each of the industrial lines mentioned do already use eucalypt wood as carbon neutral fuel. In fact, all timber based industries do convert part of the incoming raw timber into fuel, be it as non useful for sawmilling pieces of logs, be it as non suitable for board or panel fractions going to the co-generation boiler, be it as suboptimal for pulping fractions chipped and fed to the stove. In addition, some of them also use organic residues from the industrial process, rich in those chemical compounds of wood non useful for pulp, as biofuel. So, in varied forms, wherever an eucalypt based timber industry exists, Eucalyptus biomass is already used as biofuel. A renewable one.

Fig. 4: Sliced Eucalyptus nitens firewood log piece at DBH in its 100th month. Forester boot as size reference. (Click image to enlarge)

So, do Eucalyptus bio-energy crops already exist? Surely, in many places. In as many ways as silvicultural management regimes are applied to these planted tree crops. The diversity of possibilities is large. And the implications of each management regime producing biomass for energy are also diverse.

Purely 100% biomass for energy Eucalyptus timber crops are possible. Different designs for planting and plantation tending are possible. Combined pulpwood plus biomass for energy Eucalyptus timber crops are also possible. In fact, those are the most common variant of Eucalyptus cultivation in planted forests around the world. Combined multi-product planted forests yielding Eucalyptus biomass for bioenergy, plus logs for pulpwood or chipwood for pulping or board industries, plus high value logs for solidwood or veneer lines are also possible!

Fig. 5: Chart for Eucalyptus nitens dry biomass fraction weight and output estimation, developed by our good friend César Pérez Cruzado & collaborators (UXFS-USC) after much tree sampling and much wood laboratory work.

All of them are possible, and they all have their basement on two basic concepts. The first one is simple and well visible in the photo-thread of this article: the trees can grow very fast, shortening production cycles and ROI periods whatever the industrial line the main product of the planted Eucalyptus forest aims to.

The second concept is as old as forestry and the refining of silviculture of planted Eucalyptus forests: you can manage the stocking of your trees along their cultivation cycle in order to be able to extract timber from your tree stand along time, and at once letting the remaining trees achieve whichever desired log size and properties you may want. And, the good part, using the right tools developed by foresters, you can estimate and predict which are the amounts of raw timber, or its equivalent as any product (be it volumes of woodchips, pulp or board; be it dry weight of biomass in each of its fractions; be it power output of each of those fractions per tree or per hectare depending on when they are harvested... whatever necessary!!).

Fig. 6: Eucalyptus nitens Stand Density Management Diagram (SDMD) for Galicia (NW Spain). A very handy tool to estimate overall timber volume in a given plantation for a whole range of tree stocking after basic tree measuring. Also developed by Pérez Cruzado, Rodríguez Soalleiro & collaborators (UXFS-USC).

So, if you put in the same mix a given suitable timber tree, relatively well transferred experience in its cultivation for a given area, a wide array of visible different and diverse ways to grow the trees for different products but always with biomass and bioenergy as part of the equation, good forestry science based knowledge of the potential yield of these trees both from the point of view of productivity per surface unit regardless of how they are grown, and good forestry science based knowledge of the yield of the trees as producers of different fractions of biomass for energy... and you add to that some logistics for delivered cost of supply... and some biomass boiler parameters...

Exactly: you can predict bioenergy outputs from this type of woody biomass for a whole region... and their cost depending where the boilers are! Neat, eh? Galicia rocks!

Also at Eucalyptologics...

Cold hardy Eucalyptus timber production in Galicia (NW Spain)

Cold hardy Eucalyptus frost damage assessment

Eucalyptus in the Snow: Pictorial views of cold hardy eucalypt plantations in NW Spain

Natural Regeneration in Eucalyptus: The odd case of coppicing E. nitens

Eucalyptus hybrids: Phenology of E. globulus and E. nitens in Galicia (NW Spain)

Eucalyptus at Full Gallop: When spring comes

Eucalyptus Silviculture: Making more Money Grow on Trees

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GIT's Eucalyptology Topics

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© 2007-2010 Gustavo Iglesias Trabado. Please contact us if you want to use all or part of this text and photography elsewhere. We like to share, but we do not like rudeness.

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Cold hardy Eucalyptus forestry in Galicia (IV): the snowy country...

Eucalyptus and Snow: More winter views of eucalypt timber plantations in Northwestern Spain

Gustavo Iglesias Trabado
GIT Forestry Consulting SL - Consultoría y Servicios de Ingeniería Agroforestal - www.git-forestry.com - EUCALYPTOLOGICS

The intricate and varied topography of Galicia in Northwestern Spain means a full range of altitudinal and aspect driven climates can appear in a relatively limited geographic area. From sea level to the 1,987 metres of Pico Cuíña or the 2,127 metres of Peña Trevinca achievable in gradients of less than 150 kilometres, many tree things are possible.

We have previously seen the Coastal Rainforests of "Nova Australia", and examples of tree performance in the Tablelands of Central Galicia. But today EUCALYPTOLOGICS takes you to some of the Snowy Highlands: the Oregon Country of Northwestern Spain!

Fig. 1: White landscape of the Galician Highlands, a harsh tree growing area in NW Spain. (Get your giant sized version of this for print!)

Here, between 800 and 1200 meters elevation, where winters are harsh and population has decreased significantly in the last decades, a predominant subsistance oriented agricultural system with sparse tree cover has been gradually replaced for half a century by a combination of extensive cattle grazing and timber production.

Among the first widely cultivated timber crop species in the area, an alternative to Maritime Pine (Pinus pinaster) and Monterey Pine (Pinus radiata) able to tolerate the constraining climate, is the staple timber of today: the Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris).

Fig. 2: Pinus sylvestris (Scots Pine), the most common and classic tree crop in the Galician Highlands. (Click image to enlarge)

A slow growing species compared to other commonly cultivated pines in Galicia, Pinus sylvestris reaches productivities in the range of 8 to 15 m3 per hectare and year and it is managed in long rotations, with harvest cycles each 50 to 70 years depending on site quality and target timber product.

Thanks to the keen help of IUFRO and the Pacific Southwest Research Station (USFS / USDA), a promising tree species got a domestication impulse from the 1980's ahead (see Gabriel Toval et al, 1993). Since then, it has become a popular alternative to the Scots Pine for timber production in the Highlands of Galicia.

Fig. 3: Pseudotsuga menziesii (Douglas Fir), a more recently popular faster growing tree species for timber production in the Highlands of Galicia, NW Spain.(Click the image to enlarge)

A faster growing species than Pinus sylvestris, a less demanding species than any of the locally common hardwoods for much of the ranker soils of the Highlands, and a timber species with very good potential for solid softwood products have made of the Douglas Fir, Pseudotsuga menziesii, one of the most planted species for the Galician Highlands during the last twenty years. And as such, it is known locally as "Pino de Oregón", making the wintery views of some areas in Northwestern Spain quite similar looking to those of the true Oregon Country.

But, what does all this wonderful conifer related chit chat have to do with Eucalyptus? Everybody knows eucalypts cannot grow "in Oregon"? ... Bullshit!

Fig. 4: Fast growing cold hardy Eucalyptus nitens (Shining Gum) outgrowing Douglas Fir at age 7. (Click the image to enlarge)

That is the main reason we are showing you today the non Eucalyptus not growing under the non snow in the Highlands of Galicia. Of course, they do not grow fast enough here to be considered a reasonable alternative for forestry production. They only outgrow every other commercial tree species cultivated in the area, hardwood or softwood.

Fig. 5: Example of cold hardy Eucalyptus nitens growing at over 900 metres elevation in the Highlands of Galicia (NW Spain), enduring frosts and snow every winter. (Click the image to enlarge)

The pictured examples are similar to others of cold hardy Eucalyptus growing in the snow in Northern Spain. Localy known as "Eucalipto de las heladas" (the eucalypt of the frosts), Eucalyptus nitens, the Shining Gum, is able to reach average productivities of 30 m3 per hectare per year even in such conditions, withstanding frost risk periods of up to 150 days per year, regular snowfalls and absolute minimum temperatures in the range of -10ºC.

Fig. 6: Seven year old windbreak at +900 metres elevation in the Highlands of Galicia. Foreground, Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), 3 metres high. Background, Shining Gum (Eucalyptus nitens), up to 12 metres high. (Click the image to enlarge)

Not really that surprising, considering there are examples of a not too different mountain habitat in the harsher extremes of its native forests back in Australia, be it approaching the 1,300 metre elevation in Victoria, or be it within the 1,600 metre elevation range it reaches in the Barrington Tops of New South Wales.

Fig. 7: Thawing snow on the foliage of frost tolerant fast growing Eucalyptus nitens. (Click image to enlarge)

Yet another example of the versatility of the very diverse genus Eucalyptus, able to become the source of plants of economic importance adaptable to almost any climate and soil on the planet. Countless examples are scattered around the world, from the sandy arid climates to the lush subtropical and tropical ones, from sea level to the treeline, from the permanent warmth of the equator, to the snowy mountains of the world.

Also in Eucalyptologics...

Cold hardy Eucalyptus timber production in Galicia (NW Spain)

Cold hardy Eucalyptus frost damage assessment

Eucalyptus in the Snow: Pictorial views of cold hardy eucalypt plantations in NW Spain

Natural Regeneration in Eucalyptus: The odd case of coppicing E. nitens

Eucalyptus hybrids: Phenology of E. globulus and E. nitens in Galicia (NW Spain)

Eucalyptus at Full Gallop: When spring comes

Eucalyptus Silviculture: Making more Money Grow on Trees

Want to contact us?

Contact GIT Forestry Consulting - Eucalyptologics

GIT's Eucalyptology Topics

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© 2007-2010 Gustavo Iglesias Trabado. Please contact us if you want to use all or part of this text and photography elsewhere. We like to share, but we do not like rudeness.

Click to Read Full Story...

Click to Display Summary only...

High Value Eucalyptus Timber Farms: the Galician model

Eucalyptus Silviculture: Making money grow on trees

Gustavo Iglesias Trabado
GIT Forestry Consulting SL - Consultoría y Servicios de Ingeniería Agroforestal - www.git-forestry.com - EUCALYPTOLOGICS

Barely some hours after jumping off the plane bringing us back to Spain from the cultivated eucalypt forests of Brazil, Eucalyptologics had the honor of sharing with a batch of future engineers for the Forest Authority of Galicia some local examples of silvicultural technique to do and not to do when trying to produce high value logs from Eucalyptus plantations.

Fig. 1: Galician "Forestry Commission" forestry engineers attending to GIT Forestry Consulting's Eucalyptus Silviculture seminar in Santiago de Compostela.

We presented to these nice peoples the "Side B" of Eucalyptus silviculture: how to maximize individual log value and individual tree value aiming to produce timber for 3 different industrial lines... at once.

And how the difference between "minimum silviculture" (also know as "plant and forget") and high value silviculture for small woodlot owners can mean only 7 extra labour days per hectare during the early life of their Eucalyptus plantations... for at least +300% increased potential income.

Fig. 2: GIT Forestry's Eucalyptus silviculture seminar at the High Silviculture Course for Galician Forestry & Timber Industry.

Which, of course, is not as easy to get done efficiently in practice as it sounds, or someone else would have worked it out for Galicia already beyond theoretical speeches.

In fact, some have tried to work it out without paying much attention to the trees, or to the impact of their operations further in the timber industrial chain, which translates into something quite different to "successful silviculture".

Fig. 3: Evidence of bad silvicultural technique increasing low quality product by +350%

So a quick trip through quality pruning techniques, the importance of early identification of the best trees to focus the costs of silviculture on them, examples of early thinning to increase diameter growth, and evidence of the need for good genetics to successfully and efficiently produce high value logs... were explored.

And examples of successful early high value silviculture for Eucalyptus plantations were presented: pruning wound healing and clearwood production from basal logs in just 1 growing season.

Fig. 4: Example of good silvicultural technique yielding clearwood from the basal Eucalyptus logs since year 4.

Which means that if things are done okay with further operations, as early Eucalyptus high pruning done according to a Technical Silviculture Plan...

Fig. 5: Example of use and performance assessment for a STIHL telescopic pole pruner on duty in a High Value Eucalyptus nitens Model Forest in Galicia (Northwestern Spain ). Click Play to watch the video!

Then the target of obtaining a diversified timber production (multi-product), including as high value as possible potential products for the local timber industry chain, and doing it as fast as possible taking advantage of one of the biological wonders of the tree world... can be achieved!

Fig. 6: Example of good silvicultural technique about to yield high quality Eucalyptus clearwood logs for veneer or sawnwood in just 20 year cycles.

With the keen trans-oceanic aid of the NZFFA (the New Zealand Farm Forestry Association) we were also able to show these forestry engineers what a farmer and silviculturalist can do, just by applying common sense to a first-hand knowledge of tree biology to the end of a timber production rotation.

Which, by the way, meant jaws dropping! Go kiwis!

Fig. 7: Basic layout of GIT Forestry Consulting's High Value Eucalyptus Model Forest in the Highlands of Galicia (Northwestern Spain).

In the end, an invitation to the open gates of this agro-forestry and high value timber multi-production Model Forest was extended to all the attendees, so they can see first hand what Eucalyptus trees are capable of when well managed.

Invitation that right now we make extended... to you! If interested in visiting this and other forestry hubs in Galicia, Northwestern Spain, we are just one email away!

All this work, and the jaws dropping, would have been impossible without the keen collaboration of the Consellería do Medio Rural (Xunta de Galicia), the Galician Center for Wood Innovation & Technology Services (CIS-Madeira), Financiera Maderera SA (FINSA), the Galician forestry industry sectorial organization Asociación Monte-Industria; and the support provided by the New Zealand Farm Forestry Association (NZFFA), the Cooperative Research Centre for Forestry (CRC for Forestry, Australia), and the Instituto Forestal (INFOR, Chile).

Contact / subscribe to Eucalyptologics

Contact GIT Forestry Consulting - Eucalyptologics

GIT's Eucalyptology Topics

Subscribe to receive EUCALYPTOLOGICS via RSS

Subscribe to receive EUCALYPTOLOGICS via e-mail

© 2007-2009 Gustavo Iglesias Trabado. Please contact us if you want to use all or part of this text and photography elsewhere. We like to share, but we do not like rudeness.

Click to Read Full Story...

Click to Display Summary only...