Stump biomass is energy rich and stump harvesting for use as fuel become more and more interesting in Sweden. Swedish Forest Agency (2009) has estimated that stump harvesting in Sweden would respond to an annual energy supply of 57 TWh/year. However, stump has not been recognized as a bioenergy resource in Sweden. Suitable methods for pre-treatment of stump are probably of great importance to make it accepted as fuel. It is therefore rewarding to carry out an investigation in this area for stump. This report represents results from a diploma project, which was aimed to develop a fixed bed reactor for experimental study of biomass torrefaction, followed by TG analysis and kinetic modelling employing Ozawa method and different kinetic models including one-step and three-pseudo-component models.

In 2006, Stora Enso Skog implemented an education program in water management for harvester operators, timber purchasers, cut block planners and supervisors. The focus of the program was creating stream crossings with minimal harm to the stream and the surrounding riparian area. This main purpose of this study was to determine the difference in work procedures before and after participating in the program. The methodology consisted of field studies and interviews with harvester operators and their supervisors. The field study looked at how the streams had been crossed concerning the number of crossings, visible damage to the stream and/or the riparian area made by the machines. Biological parameters such as the width and dept of the stream and amount of large woody debris in the stream were also measured. The field result from 30 harvesting sites showed no significant difference between sites that had been harvested before or after the education program. But the harvester operators and their supervisors experienced an increased concern for watersheds after the educational program.

Horse keeping is gaining an increasing interest in Sweden. During 2004 to 2010 the number of horses increased with 10 - 20 %, and was estimated to be 362 700 in 2010. Julmyra Horse Center (JHC), situated in Heby municipality, is a gated community for people sharing a large interest for horses and a vision of a sustainable horse management has been formulated. This study evaluates how the horse keeping of today at JHC, and how an expansion of the horse keeping may affect the risk of enhanced phosphorus load to the nearby lake system Vansjön ? Nordsjön.

In order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from human activities fossil fuels will have to be replaced with renewable energy alternatives, such as bioenergy. Sweden has a great potential to produce bioenergy derived from forest products and there is currently a great interest within Sweden in using stumps for bioenergy production. However, the environmental consequences of the method need to be investigated before stump removal can be performed on a large scale. Swedish forest soils contain large carbon pools and a different land use may change conditions so that soils that presently act as sinks of carbon could potentially turn into sources of carbon release instead. This study investigates the initial effects of stump harvesting on the emissions of three greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. The emissions were measured from the soil surface in a Norway spruce forest located in the southern part of Sweden.

This thesis is a part of the project "Sustainable harvesting and storage of sugar beets, more sugar to practice". The work has included a large part of practical experimental work with weight measurement, graduation and storage planning. The aim of the project is to be able to see whether the cultivars react differently in different storage conditions. The project has included storage under controlled conditions to give as accurate results as possible. To be able to mimic the farmers own preconditions the samples was harvested with a conventional Holmer.This project has two parts, one concerning the nature, time and temperature on storage where a number of different cultivars where investigated during three different recording times, two different temperatures and controlled in a controlled environment.

The question is who should govern and administrate a municipality owned urban forest? Should societies and the public be invited to participatory planning, who are the interested parties, could they be treated like a group and what are their opinions on administration and management? The study is carried out in a municipal owned forest Vitberget Skellefteå that is widely used by associations and individuals for recreation and training.This has led to several discussions in the local media about the management of the forest, especially in connection to harvesting. The work undertaken here has been to identify who has any interest in the management of the area. After identifying the interested parties, a selection of the societies, schools and pre-schools that actively uses the area as well as random individuals met in the area was interviewed. The questions asked can be divided into six main groups:? Communication with the municipality?s managers for the area? Interference from other activities? Views on forest management? Views on nature conservation? The uniqueness of Vitberget? Development opportunitiesThe crucial factors identified as being needed to succeed in managing an urban forest are long-term administration, information and communication.

When Norway spruce is planted with large initial spacing and grows on highly productive sites in southern Sweden, a high proportion of the stems gets broad annual rings. The thinning programme carried out at the estate of Trolleholm aims to extract stems with too broad ring width. The 3-4 first thinnings are carried out as thinning from above, where only the thickest trees are removed. The internal distance may not fall below 5-7 meters depending on the number of thinning (short distance in young stands). The aim of this study was to examine the thinning model that is carried out at the estate of Trolleholm. A volume table is calculated to describe the model, and data is collected on temporary plots.

The choice of harvest date for leys is one of the most important factors affecting the size and quality of the harvest. An early harvest gives a high nutritive value while a late harvest gives larger quantity. Today?s aim to produce high nutritive leys gives early harvest dates both in primary growth and regrowth in northern part of Sweden. The consequence is a growth in the autumn, a "third harvest".The aim of this master thesis was to study the effects of different harvesting systems and their effect on size, feed quality, wintering and economy for conditions in the northern part of Sweden.

Estimation of the variation in the integrated hydraulic conductivity around the Tunåsen infiltration facility - An investigation of the effects of uncertainties in existing informationAlmost half of Sweden?s drinking water volume is produced from groundwater. The main fraction of this is extracted from eskers, some of which allow for very large extraction rates. Despite this, the groundwater volume is not sufficient in some areas. This has led to an extensive use of artificial recharge.In Uppsala, the total volume added through artificial recharge is divided between four infiltration facilities.

In an attempt to prevent ground damage and to reduce harvesting costs, StoraEnso's districts Värmbodal and Fryken, selected a number of final felling areas where the base roads have been marked by planners in the districts. The parties involved in the experiment are mainly planners, harvester operators and forwarder operators. The purpose of this paper is to determine the findings of this trial and to find cost savings or lost revenue. This has been done with a sample of interviews from the involved parties who logged the chosen felling areas. Literature about the interview process has been used to facilitate data collection, interpretation and analysis of the material. If we look at profitability based on assumed income and expenditure, revenue per MWh would be 63 SEK.

The choice of harvest date for leys is one of the most important factors affecting the size and quality of the harvest. An early harvest gives a high nutritive value while a late harvest gives larger quantity. Today?s aim to produce high nutritive leys gives early harvest dates both in primary growth and regrowth in northern part of Sweden. The consequence is a growth in the autumn, a "third harvest".The aim of this master thesis was to study the effects of different harvesting systems and their effect on size, feed quality, wintering and economy for conditions in the northern part of Sweden.

Hemp is an ancient cultivated plant that came to Sweden in the 1st to 2nd Century and was particularly interesting for use for food, clothing and building materials. Over time, other applications have been developed for hemp, e.g. in energy and health products. Interesting new uses for hemp continue to be identified and this fascinating plant has incredibly versatile applications.In this project, seed production of industrial hemp in Sweden was studied and evaluated. Five different methods are described, four of which are proven under Swedish conditions.

I?ve tried to find the most effective and cost effective way to harvest straw for energy recovery.You can choose between round bales and big square bales. Square bales are the cheapest way to produce straw for fuel recovery because you can optimize the length of the bales so they fit the transportation equipment.In the Malmö area the average days of harvesting hay is 55. The effectively of transportation depends mostly of the speed, the distance and density of the bales. To increase the capacity of bale transportation larger loads and higher density of the bales is necessary.

During 2006 SNVDB (the national road data base for forestry) is being introduced to Holmen Skog. This data base contains all information about Holmen Skogs road systems. The information will then be used in different kinds of optimisation models which only produce correct and reliable results if the input data are of the adequate quality. Today there are reasons to believe that road data is of various qualities. The forest roads are often in a bad condition and have to be improved before a planned harvest. The cost of maintenance and construction of new roads is a large part of the total harvesting cost.

With the days DGPS-technology can a position of 5 centimetres decides. With this exactly position is the technology very interesting for the agriculture. I think this technology can come more and more in the future. You can also move the fact and information further to the spreader, sprayer and seeders. If the combine is equipped with harvest accounting, can you with help of the system make harvest maps.