TAKING out the TRASH Quebec-based Cyclofor has created a special container-based slash recovery forwarder and a sorting station to make the most of post-harvest slash. Canadian Biomass reports on prototypes of both. By Gilles Boucher & Scott Jamieson FOR years farmers have recuperated just about everything from their harvest sites, while nearby loggers leave almost as much behind as they take out in terms of pure volume. Yet now with energy prices soaring, what was once an eyesore and a cost item left after logging is now starting to take on a golden hue. To cash in on this once-waste product, Cyclofor Inc. of La Sarre, QC, has developed an entire slash collection and processing system – The RC-03 forwarder-compactor to recover slash for the harvest site and move it to a central sorting and treatment centre that will direct the slash to its highest end use, from whitewood chips to hog fuel, and everything in between. The RC-03 is a slash “forwarder-compactor” created by Daniel Tardif. The current model was developed from two earlier prototypes that the longtime heavy-equipment mechanic tested. His 30-year career includes work in sawmills and other industries as a mechanic and continual improvement entrepreneur. Like many others today, he insists that we need to start using the whole of the forest resource, adding that we’re talking an impressive volume if, and this is the big if, we can fi nd a mechanically sound and economical way to collect and transport the fibre. The RC-03 is thus the fulcrum for Cyclofor’s whole business model. It is being fi eld-tested and proven now both in the Abitibi-Temiscamingue region of northwestern Quebec, as well as in northern Ontario, near Opasatika. Both these forest regions have immense volumes of available harvest slash. The machine’s base is a rugged Timberpro TF840 forwarder, with 22-tonnes of capacity on 24-tonne tandems. It is driven by a 300-hp Cum- mins, while the chassis has been stretched to 35 feet in length and 12 feet wide for the application. The RC-03 rolls on 42-inch tracks mounted on 10.5-foot tandems. As a result, despite its size, the RC-03’s ground pressure is similar to other 14- or 16-tonne forwarders. Everything above this solid base, or as Tardif says, “everything above the wheels”, was designed and built by Tardif and Cyclofor. This includes the LEFT MAIN: The RC-03 forwarder-compactor is based on a Timberpro heavy-duty for- warder, but includes a purpose-built grapple with saw and knife, an infeed funnel and compactor rod (middle section), and a removable container that transports 15 tonnes of slash. INSET: A cut-to-length (CTL) harvest site after Cyclofor has been through. The trail is that used by harvester and forwarder to extract sawlogs and pulp wood according to Quebecʼs 25% limit on machine travel. This allows high regen on both sides, but traditionally cre- ates a heavy concentration of slash in the trails. Now spot planters planting the trails only have easy access to planting sites. CanadianBIOMASS 19
Canadian Biomass August 08: Page 19
