Fuel , Hydraulic Oil and Lubricant Consumption in Swedish Mechanized Harvesting Operations , 1996

When subjecting forest products to certification the total environmental load of wood harvesting machinery should also be assessed. In this study fuel, hydraulic oil and lubricant consumption in harvesting operations in Sweden has been examined by using machine data acquired through a questionnaire. The objectives of the study were to assess the contractor and forest company owned harvesters’ and forwarders’ average oil consumption in practical harvesting operations in Sweden, ascertain if the ownership and size of the machines give different consumption figures and estimate the use of environmentally acceptable hydraulic oils as well as the amount of oil spilled outdoors. Diesel consumption was found to be 935 l/1000 m3 ub for forwarders and 1 167 l/1000 m3 ub for single-grip harvesters. Hydraulic, transmission and chainsaw oil consumption was significantly higher in forest company owned harvesters while no significant differences were observed among forwarders. Hydraulic oil spillage was estimated for both harvesters and forwarders at 20 l/1000 m3 ub. For felling and crosscutting trees a further 35 l/1000 m3 ub of chainsaw oil is spilled. Ninety percent of the utilized hydraulic oil was environmentally compatible.