PLANNING THE COLLECTION AND TRANSPORTATION OF RICE STRAW IN NANTOU COUNTY, TAIWAN Y.-C. Chiu, S.-J. Guo, S. Chen, C.-Y. Tsai, J.-M. Tsai ABSTRACT. The purpose of this study was to design a rice straw collection and transportation method. Four bale forms were designed for processing 75,474 tons of rice straw produced in Nantou County: large large-round bale, small large- round bale, large small-round bale, and small small-round bale. Nine trucks, individually weighing 2, 3, 3.49, 6.2, 7.5, 11, 15.5, 17, and 24 tons, were used for transportation analysis. This study proposed six hypothetical scenarios for rice straw collection and transportation. For each scenario, centralized and noncentralized transportation were implemented, in which centralized transport involves a route from various townships to neighboring farmers’ associations to the final rice- straw treatment site, and noncentralized transport is direct delivery from various townships to the final treatment site. A geographic information system was consulted to construct a map for the locations of various townships and to assess the optimal routes for rice straw collection and transport. Considering the trucks of varying weights, the transportation costs of various rice straw delivery methods were calculated to determine the optimal collection and transportation locations. The results revealed that the optimal plant locations for rice straw processing and distribution are the rice straw production areas in Caotun Township, Nantou, Mingjian Township, and Jhushan Township. A centralized transportation of small large-round bale was the optimal method and form. The cost of rice straw collection and transportation is US$31.66 and US$20.7 per ton, respectively. A 3.49-ton truck was used for first-stage transportation, traveling an average distance of 15.9 km; a 15.5-ton truck was used for second-stage transportation, traveling an average distance of 24.9 km. Additionally, US$1.5776 million is required annually for collecting and delivering rice straws in Nantou County. In this study, a rice straw collection and transportation method was devised for Nantou County and plant establishment at the final sites for rice straw treatment was assessed. In the future, a decision-supporting system for rice straw collection and transportation can be further developed. Keywords. Bioethanol, Collection and transportation, Geographic information system, Rice straw, Waste utilization. ice, mainly grown in Asian regions, is one of the per hectare of rice field can be produced (Chen, 2008), world’s central food crops, the cultivation of yielding a total of 1,564,572 tons of rice straw. Consequent- which accounts for over 11% of the world’s ly, a lack of control over rice farmers burning rice straws arable land (Maclean et al., 2002). Substantial would further intensify environmental pollution. The rice Ramounts of waste are produced during rice cultivation, straw is of low value and thus the constraining of harvesting, and postharvesting. During postharvest handling, transportation costs is key issue. Therefore, developing a rice rice straw is typically cut into 30- to 60-mm pieces by using straw collection and transportation system is crucial for a combine harvester. After several days of sun exposure, rice alternative utilization methods to be viable. straw is buried in soil to decompose into fertilizer or is Nantou County is located at the geographic center of burned to ash and integrated into soil. Smog caused by Taiwan and is the only noncoastal county in Taiwan. frequently burning rice straw in open fields is commonly Nantou County is mountainous with abundant tourism seen in Taiwan during rice harvest season. Such emissions resources. Therefore, tourism is a key source of income for typically cause air pollution and endanger traffic safety (Su Nantou. However, burning rice straw has caused air et al., 2008). According to Agricultural Statistics Yearbook pollution, reduced visibility, and affected the environmental (Council of Agriculture, 2012), 260,762 ha are used for rice quality in Nantou. Due to higher population density in cultivation in Taiwan, and approximately 6 tons of rice straw Taiwan, most of the farmlands are close to highways and resident houses. In order to avoid the pollution problems caused by burning rice straws, Taiwan’s government has Submitted for review in April 2014 as manuscript number ITSC been considering encouraging farmers to collect rice straws 10718; approved for publication by the Information, Technology, Sensors, by supplementary allowance. The collected rice straws will & Control Systems Community of ASABE in June 2016. The authors are Yi-Chich Chiu, ASABE Member, Professor, Syun- be sent to incinerators as waste combustion material or Jhih Guo, Graduate Student, Department of Biomechatronic Engineering, reused for other applications. Therefore, developing a rice National Ilan University, Taiwan; Suming Chen, Professor, Chao-Yin straw collection, transportation, and recycling system for Tsai, Post Doc. Researcher, and Jin-Ming Tsai, Research Assistant, controlling farmers in burning rice straw in order to reduce Department of Bio-Industrial Mechatronics Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taiwan. Corresponding author: Yi-Chich Chiu, 1, Sec. 1, air pollution warrants immediate attention. Shen-Lung Rd, Yilan 26041, Taiwan; phone: +886-3-9317804; e-mail: [email protected]. Applied Engineering in Agriculture Vol. 32(5): © 2016 American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers ISSN 0883-8542 DOI 10.13031/aea.32.10718 1 Rice straw collection and transportation is time- Table 1. The distribution of rice production consuming and labor-intensive. Therefore, developing a in Nantou County in 2012. Paddy Field The Ratio of time- and cost-effective rice straw collection and Area Rice Straw Paddy Field Area to transportation system is required. Fang et al. (2013) (ha) (ton) Township Area (%) investigated the rice straw collection and transportation and Caotun Township 3,090 18,540 29.7 analyzed the cost for collection and transportation of rice Jhushan Township 552 3,312 2.23 Mingjian Township 551 3,306 6.63 straw in Taiwan. Velázquez-Martí and Annevelink (2009) Nantou 520 3,120 7.26 used ArcGIS, a geographic information system, to establish Renai Township 84 504 0.07 a network for planning biomass collection and site Puli Township 75 450 0.46 selection; they defined the collection and transportation Lugu Township 77 462 0.54 Jiji Township 46 276 0.93 range as a radius of 4 km and the regional production to be Shueili Township 20 120 0.19 over 1,000 tons per year, to develop an optimal collection Guoshing Township 6 36 0.03 and transportation system. Total 5,021 30,126 1.22 Devlin et al. (2008) devised a route for Irish truck transportation through a geographic information system and Caotun Township (3,090 ha) is the largest, followed by route weighting. Using this method, heavy items were those in Jhushan Township, Mingjian Township, and selected for determining the lowest transportation cost. In Nantou. In 2012, these regions produced 18540, 3313, addition, they indicated that the shortest routes are not 3313, and 3120 tons of rice straw, respectively. Approxi- necessarily the most economical routes, because the mately 30,000 tons of rice straw waste is annually produced maintenance cost for the shortest route was substantially in these areas because the main crop is rice. Other Nantou higher than that for routes that considered route weighting. County townships do not specialize in producing rice and, Zhang et al. (2011) indicated that the selection of a therefore, generate comparatively less rice straw waste. production plant location is crucial for cost-effective biofuel production. The location of a biofuel plant RICE STRAW COLLECTION AND TRANSPORTATION substantially affects transportation costs. A geographic PROCESSES information system was used to determine the lowest Figure 1 shows the process flow for rice straw treat- transportation cost based on the optimal location for a ments. After a combine harvester is used for harvesting biofuel plant, road and rail transportation systems, and rice, the remaining rice straw in the field must be sundried biological material distribution. for 2 to 3 weeks to reduce the moisture content to prevent Rice straw can be used as animal feed and as footwear the rice straw from decaying (fig. 1), which impedes the or coating material; it can also be used for building baling process. Rice straw is baled into large round or small thatched cottages, making rope and straw mats, producing round bales. A tractor attached to a hay collector is used to organic fertilizer, bioderived fuels, or bioethanol, and can collect the rice straw, after which it is processed in a hay be buried or burned in open fields or in incinerators. baler to produce large round bales. By contrast, a rice straw Currently, rice straw is rarely used as animal feed, as baler is used on the field to produce small round bales, footwear or coating material, or for building thatched which are tiny and light. Therefore, workers stack these cottages; in addition, these applications only require small small bales in the field before transferring them to a truck amounts of rice straw; therefore, these treatment processes for subsequent transportation. Large round bales are were not considered in this study. directly moved to a cargo truck by using a farm truck. The purpose of this study was to design an adequate method for rice straw collection and transportation in Nantou County, Taiwan. This study estimated the rice straw production and distribution of various local rice cultivation areas in Nantou, and assessed plant construction for rice collection and transportation to formulate a plan for reducing logistics costs and enhancing transportation efficiency. This study also adopted ArcGIS to identify the most suitable routes, analyze relevant costs, and develop an optimal rice straw collection and transportation system. MATERIALS AND METHODS RICE STRAW PRODUCTION IN NANTOU COUNTY Table 1 shows the distribution of the rice production in Nantou County in 2012.