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Development and Evaluation of a Single Pass, Dual Stream Corn Stover Harvester Benjamin Joseph Schlesser Iowa State University

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Development and Evaluation of a Single Pass, Dual Stream Corn Stover Harvester Benjamin Joseph Schlesser Iowa State University Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 2007 Development and evaluation of a single pass, dual stream corn stover harvester Benjamin Joseph Schlesser Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the Agriculture Commons, and the Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering Commons Recommended Citation Schlesser, Benjamin Joseph, "Development and evaluation of a single pass, dual stream corn stover harvester" (2007). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 15487. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/15487 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Development and evaluation of a single pass, dual stream corn stover harvester by Benjamin Joseph Schlesser A thesis submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE Major: Agricultural Engineering (Advanced Machinery Engineering) Program of Study Committee: Stuart J. Birrell, Major Professor Carl J. Bern Loren W. Zachary Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2007 Copyright © Benjamin Joseph Schlesser, 2007. All rights reserved. 2009 ii Table of Contents Introduction..................................................................................................................... 1 Literature Review............................................................................................................ 4 Early stover harvesters: Stover for feed..................................................................... 4 Later stover harvesters: Stover for feed or industry................................................... 6 Chopper types and characteristics............................................................................... 8 Objectives ..................................................................................................................... 11 Equipment Design and Development ........................................................................... 12 Design Theory........................................................................................................... 12 Specifications............................................................................................................ 16 Methods and Analysis................................................................................................... 32 Experimental design.................................................................................................. 32 Site layout ................................................................................................................. 33 Equipment................................................................................................................. 34 Procedure .................................................................................................................. 37 Data Analysis............................................................................................................ 39 Results........................................................................................................................... 43 Test Observations...................................................................................................... 43 Numerical Results..................................................................................................... 47 Conclusions and recommendations for further study ................................................... 59 Conclusions............................................................................................................... 59 Future Recommendations ......................................................................................... 60 References..................................................................................................................... 62 Acknowledgements....................................................................................................... 65 1 Introduction Corn stover is the residue that is left behind after corn grain harvest (Sheehan et al., 2003). It consists of stalks, cobs, husks, leaves, and other non-grain portions of the plant. Corn stover has advantages over other biomass sources because the grain fraction is a high value co-product, and the yield of corn stover is quite high (Shinners et al., 2005). In addition, corn is prevalent throughout the United States and is grown on more acres than any other grain crop (USDA, 2005). This combination of relatively high yield and high availability has brought corn stover to the forefront of the search for biomass to serve as an industrial feedstock for a new generation of products. In 1999, more than 90% of corn stover was left in the field with less than 1% of the stover being collected for industrial processing and about 5% being baled for animal feed and bedding (Glassner et al., 1999). This material has historically been considered a low-value byproduct of corn grain production. Modern science has shown the benefits of maintaining some crop residue on the soil surface to prevent erosion and to recycle the nutrients remaining in the crop residue back into the soil for future use, but a portion of the stover could be removed for other uses. As a benchmark, the United States Department of Agriculture requires at least 30% of the soil surface to be covered with crop residue after planting to reduce soil erosion and qualify as conservation tillage (USDA, 2000). The remaining stover could be harvested to make ethanol or other products. In North America alone, this uncollected corn stover has the potential to be used to produce 38.4 GL of ethanol (Kim and Dale, 2004). However, before that ethanol can be produced, it is necessary to identify methods of harvesting the corn stover in an efficient and economical manner. 2 This project will focus on the improvement and evaluation of a single pass, dual stream harvest system based on a combine harvester. The intent of such a system is to simultaneously harvest both clean corn grain and stover as the combine travels through a field. By performing both operations at the same time using a single machine, a time savings could be realized by eliminating two to three field operations normally required if harvesting the stover by chopping, raking, and baling it. The relatively low density of corn stover creates challenges with harvesting and handling the stover. One method to increase the density of the stover is to chop it into small pieces. In general, the density of corn stover will increase with shorter cut length, but research indicates that processing the stover to lengths shorter than about 51 mm (2 in.) does not significantly benefit the densification process (Frohberg, 2005). At shorter cut lengths, more power is required to chop the material, and no significant density advantage is realized. This research project focuses specifically on the development of a new stover chopper that mounts on the back of a combine harvester in place of the existing residue chopper. The new chopper is designed to provide uniformly chopped stover in pieces 51 mm (2 in.) or smaller to take full advantage of the density effects shown by Frohberg (2005). Additionally, a blower from a self propelled forage harvester is attached to the outlet of the stover chopper. The blower will receive stover from the chopper and propel it into a wagon for compaction or transport. This thesis will discuss the design, development, and testing of a single pass, dual stream harvest system. The power required to operate the new stover chopper will be compared to that required for the existing residue chopper, and the power required by the blower will also be measured and analyzed. Analysis will show if there is a statistically significant difference in the power requirements of the choppers and blower based on 3 multiple machinery configurations. The field capacities of the system will also be identified along with limitations of the system. Recommendations for further study will follow the conclusions drawn from testing. 4 Literature Review The motivations for collecting corn stover are primarily based two distinct usage paths. The classical path has focused on stover as a livestock feed source while the more contemporary path views it as an industrial feedstock. Regardless of the intended use, both paths share the common challenge of harvesting the stover. The following literature review will illustrate the methods that have previously been employed to collect corn stover. In addition, the types of choppers used to reduce the particle size of materials such as corn stover will be explored. Early stover harvesters: Stover for feed Some of the first mechanical corn stover harvesters collected the stover with the grain as much for convenience as for a desire to harvest stover. Corn binders were patented from the late 1800’s to the 1950s in the United States as a method to mechanize corn grain harvest (Gray, 1898; Zickefoose, 1916; McKahin 1950). These devices would typically cut the corn plant at its base, accumulate a number of these similarly cut corn plants, tie them together in a bundle, and drop the bundles on the ground to be subsequently accumulated in bunches
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