Özet:

The effect of storage duration and technique on the moisture content of radiata pine (Pinus radiata D. Don) biomass logs in New Zealand was studied. Methods: Two trials were established in the South Island to represent favourable and unfavourable storage conditions, namely: summer storage in a warm and dry location and winter storage in a cold and relatively wet location. In total twenty stacks were installed, each consisting of approximately 600 kg of radiata pine logs (wet initial weight), with treatments intended to compare small diameter logs, large diameter logs, large diameter logs split, as well as the effect of cover. Moisture content was gravimetrically determined at the beginning and the end of the trials. All stacks were weighed at 1 to 4 week intervals to follow the weight loss trend over time. Results: After 24 weeks in summer storage, the moisture content (wet basis) of radiata pine logs decreased from an initial value of 53% to between 33 and 21%. The decrease was greatest for uncovered small logs and decreased was smallest for covered large logs. Due to wet and cold weather conditions, logs stored in winter- dried very little over a 17-week period. Moisture content decreased from an initial value of 58% to between 51 and 49%, with no significant treatment differences observed in the winter trial. Conclusions: The best summer storage technique was the simplest and consisted of stacking small logs without any cover. The larger logs dried the slowest, but splitting accelerated drying significantly. Covering did not help and results indicated that, while covering is useful for preventing rewetting of dry logs, it does not improve drying of wet logs.

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