University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU) - Research portal
Gewählte Master / Diploma Thesis:
Julian Grünberg
(2022):
Vergleichende Ökobilanzierung (LCA) der Holzrückung mittels Forwarder.
Master / Diploma Thesis - Institut für Forsttechnik (FT),
BOKU-Universität für Bodenkultur,
pp 85.
UB BOKU
obvsg
FullText
- Abstract:
- One of the dominant topics of this time is the discussion about resource depletion and global warming, which goes hand in hand with an increased focus on sustainable management of our planet. This also affects the forestry sector. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) can be considered as a precise method to estimate the potential environmental impacts associated with a product over its lifetime. The objective of this work is to generate LCAs based on global studies dealing with timber extraction by forwarders. The system boundary was defined as the extraction of wood from the forest site to the forest road and includes the processes of driving unloaded, loading, driving loaded and unloading. The LCA input parameters obtained from the studies include machine productivity, fuel consumption and machine weight. For extracting of 1 m3 of wood by the forwarder, the environmental impacts for climate change, fossil degradation and human toxicity have been analyzed. The global warming potential (GWP100) of the extraction of wood by the forwarder ranges from 0.88 to 9.30 kg CO2-eq m-3, fossil degradation from 0.35 to 3.64 kg oil-eq m-3, and human toxicity from 0.11 to 1.46 kg 1,4-DCB-eq m-3. At 60 %, burning of fossil fuels during the extraction process has the highest share of environmental impacts. Machine productivity has a major influence on the potential environmental effects. Comparing the studies in a thinning operation with those in a final cut, the mean environmental impact is significantly higher in thinnings. It is recommended to select an adequate forwarder class adapted to the stand conditions or even consider an alternative extraction method to minimize the environmental impacts. Due to the high variability of the studies (haulage in plantations vs. the mountains, extraction in young stands vs. old stands), there is often a very low correlation, apart from machine productivity, between input parameters and environmental impacts.
- Beurteilende*r: Kühmaier Martin