Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
bailing are exposed to weather and potential
spoiling or delays.
4. Bale double handling, farm loading,
unloading and reloading and mill unloading
and reloading into the Stage 1 process.
5. A centralized mill is exposed to supply prob-
lems, climatic and crop production changes or
market location shifts.
6. Throughput capacity of mill is limited by
the compressed bale form presented at the
input stage.
7. Extra distribution costs by having to move
the hurds (low-density material) from farm to
mill, then mill to market.
When the material is required for processing,
a similar 'chain bed' machine picks up the
module and feeds the (already partly proc-
essed) material into the Stage 1 process, which
in this system is 'classification' of fibre, hurds
and fines.
In (i) and (ii), there is a slight increase
in capital outlay for equipment but, on
balance with the traditional system, it is
(a)
THE PW SYSTEM BY COMPARISON
.
Field harvesting.
EIL harvests and processes
to Stage 1 in the field. The crop is sprayed
out with a registered and benign defoliant.
The harvester is a typical forage machine that
can be converted for hemp use in approx 4 h.
This conversion enables the harvester to
strip, hammer and cut standing crop hemp
at a rate of 30 t/h. The stalk is decorticated
to approximately 70% in this process and is
cut into sections approximately 100-150 mm
in length. This material is shot into a follow
buggy drawn by a tractor, which when full
(approximately 2-3 t) carries the material to
a module packing machine on the side of
the field.
This process means 2 machinery
passes, fuel and labour.
(b)
Bulk handling and transport.
The follow buggy
dumps the material into a module packing
machine, which compresses the fibre and hurds
into a 12 t block (solid haystack) in approxi-
mately 30-45 min (Fig. 6.16a and b). This
machine is operated by one man. This system
is similar to a cotton module. A 12 t module
does not require special farm or mill storage
and it can be left in the field until required. The
level of fibre separation from the hurds and
length of fibre is designed specifically to allow
the module to remain as a solid block for up
to 6 moves.
The module is loaded into a specialized
'chain bed' truck (Fig. 6.16c) in less than 10
min and can be offloaded at the mill by one
person in the same amount of time. This pro-
cess is equivalent to two moves. The module is
stored outside on a specially prepared pad.
(c)
Fig. 6.16a, b and c.
Field harvesting, bulk
handling and transport using the PW System.
