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 largeround 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 ricestraw 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.
R
ice, mainly grown in Asian regions, is one of the
world’s central food crops, the cultivation of
which accounts for over 11% of the world’s
arable land (Maclean et al., 2002). Substantial
amounts of waste are produced during rice cultivation,
harvesting, and postharvesting. During postharvest handling,
rice straw is typically cut into 30- to 60-mm pieces by using
a combine harvester. After several days of sun exposure, rice
straw is buried in soil to decompose into fertilizer or is
burned to ash and integrated into soil. Smog caused by
frequently burning rice straw in open fields is commonly
seen in Taiwan during rice harvest season. Such emissions
typically cause air pollution and endanger traffic safety (Su
et al., 2008). According to Agricultural Statistics Yearbook
(Council of Agriculture, 2012), 260,762 ha are used for rice
cultivation in Taiwan, and approximately 6 tons of rice straw
Submitted for review in April 2014 as manuscript number ITSC
10718; approved for publication by the Information, Technology, Sensors,
& Control Systems Community of ASABE in June 2016.
The authors are Yi-Chich Chiu, ASABE Member, Professor, SyunJhih Guo, Graduate Student, Department of Biomechatronic Engineering,
National Ilan University, Taiwan; Suming Chen, Professor, Chao-Yin
Tsai, Post Doc. Researcher, and Jin-Ming Tsai, Research Assistant,
Department of Bio-Industrial Mechatronics Engineering, National Taiwan
University, Taiwan. Corresponding author: Yi-Chich Chiu, 1, Sec. 1,
Shen-Lung Rd, Yilan 26041, Taiwan; phone: +886-3-9317804; e-mail:
[email protected].
per hectare of rice field can be produced (Chen, 2008),
yielding a total of 1,564,572 tons of rice straw. Consequently, a lack of control over rice farmers burning rice straws
would further intensify environmental pollution. The rice
straw is of low value and thus the constraining of
transportation costs is key issue. Therefore, developing a rice
straw collection and transportation system is crucial for
alternative utilization methods to be viable.
Nantou County is located at the geographic center of
Taiwan and is the only noncoastal county in Taiwan.
Nantou County is mountainous with abundant tourism
resources. Therefore, tourism is a key source of income for
Nantou. However, burning rice straw has caused air
pollution, reduced visibility, and affected the environmental
quality in Nantou. Due to higher population density in
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
been considering encouraging farmers to collect rice straws
by supplementary allowance. The collected rice straws will
be sent to incinerators as waste combustion material or
reused for other applications. Therefore, developing a rice
straw collection, transportation, and recycling system for
controlling farmers in burning rice straw in order to reduce
air pollution warrants immediate attention.
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 timeconsuming and labor-intensive. Therefore, developing a
time- and cost-effective rice straw collection and
transportation system is required. Fang et al. (2013)
investigated the rice straw collection and transportation and
analyzed the cost for collection and transportation of rice
straw in Taiwan. Velázquez-Martí and Annevelink (2009)
used ArcGIS, a geographic information system, to establish
a network for planning biomass collection and site
selection; they defined the collection and transportation
range as a radius of 4 km and the regional production to be
over 1,000 tons per year, to develop an optimal collection
and transportation system.
Devlin et al. (2008) devised a route for Irish truck
transportation through a geographic information system and
route weighting. Using this method, heavy items were
selected for determining the lowest transportation cost. In
addition, they indicated that the shortest routes are not
necessarily the most economical routes, because the
maintenance cost for the shortest route was substantially
higher than that for routes that considered route weighting.
Zhang et al. (2011) indicated that the selection of a
production plant location is crucial for cost-effective
biofuel production. The location of a biofuel plant
substantially affects transportation costs. A geographic
information system was used to determine the lowest
transportation cost based on the optimal location for a
biofuel plant, road and rail transportation systems, and
biological material distribution.
Rice straw can be used as animal feed and as footwear
or coating material; it can also be used for building
thatched cottages, making rope and straw mats, producing
organic fertilizer, bioderived fuels, or bioethanol, and can
be buried or burned in open fields or in incinerators.
Currently, rice straw is rarely used as animal feed, as
footwear or coating material, or for building thatched
cottages; in addition, these applications only require small
amounts of rice straw; therefore, these treatment processes
were not considered in this study.
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.
Table 1. The distribution of rice production
in Nantou County in 2012.
Paddy Field
The Ratio of
Area
Rice Straw Paddy Field Area to
(ha)
(ton)
Township Area (%)
Caotun Township
3,090
18,540
29.7
Jhushan Township
552
3,312
2.23
Mingjian Township
551
3,306
6.63
Nantou
520
3,120
7.26
Renai Township
84
504
0.07
Puli Township
75
450
0.46
Lugu Township
77
462
0.54
Jiji Township
46
276
0.93
Shueili Township
20
120
0.19
Guoshing Township
6
36
0.03
Total
5,021
30,126
1.22
Caotun Township (3,090 ha) is the largest, followed by
those in Jhushan Township, Mingjian Township, and
Nantou. In 2012, these regions produced 18540, 3313,
3313, and 3120 tons of rice straw, respectively. Approximately 30,000 tons of rice straw waste is annually produced
in these areas because the main crop is rice. Other Nantou
County townships do not specialize in producing rice and,
therefore, generate comparatively less rice straw waste.
RICE STRAW COLLECTION AND TRANSPORTATION
PROCESSES
Figure 1 shows the process flow for rice straw treatments. After a combine harvester is used for harvesting
rice, the remaining rice straw in the field must be sundried
for 2 to 3 weeks to reduce the moisture content to prevent
the rice straw from decaying (fig. 1), which impedes the
baling process. Rice straw is baled into large round or small
round bales. A tractor attached to a hay collector is used to
collect the rice straw, after which it is processed in a hay
baler to produce large round bales. By contrast, a rice straw
baler is used on the field to produce small round bales,
which are tiny and light. Therefore, workers stack these
small bales in the field before transferring them to a truck
for subsequent transportation. Large round bales are
directly moved to a cargo truck by using a farm truck.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
RICE STRAW PRODUCTION IN NANTOU COUNTY
Table 1 shows the distribution of the rice production in
Nantou County in 2012. The rice cultivation area in Nantou
County is 5,012 ha, producing approximately 30,126 tons
of rice straw. Openly burning rice straw or dumping it into
rivers or open fields severely pollutes the environment.
Among various townships, the area of paddy fields in
Figure 1. Process flow of rice straw treatment.
2
APPLIED ENGINEERING IN AGRICULTURE
Subsequently, the rice straw bales on cargo trucks are
transported to various destinations to undergo their final
treatments (e.g., produced into ropes, straw mats,
bioethanol, or burned). Because the rice straw required for
producing rope and mats must be arranged in a specific
directional order, it must be baled into small round bales,
which are typically packed directionally. By contrast, the
rice straw required for producing bioethanol or for burning
can be baled into large or small round bales without
considering directionality.
Baling Rice Straw
Currently, hay balers and rice straw balers are the
agricultural machinery used for baling rice straw. After rice
is harvested, a combine harvester is used for threshing, and
the resulting rice straw is spread across the field. When the
moisture content of the rice straw is reduced to a certain
level, a tractor is used to drag a baler to bale the rice straw,
which is then transported by a truck to the required
destination. A hay baler can bale rice straw into large largeround bales or small large-round bales. A rice straw baler
can produce large small-round bales and small large-round
bales. Table 2 shows the specifications for the various
round bales.
Rice Straw Transportation
This study investigated existing truck types for the
transportation of round rice straw bales. Because the cargo
load and the number of trips vary with the type of truck
used, the capacities of various trucks were calculated.
Table 3 shows the maximum cargo capacity of various
trucks, which was calculated by multiplying the truck bed
length by the truck bed width and the allowable cargo
height. The allowable cargo height was calculated by
subtracting the truck bed height from a statutory height
limit on vehicles. According to the Road Traffic Act, the
height limit for small trucks below 3.5 tons is 2.85 m from
the ground and that for large trucks above 3.5 tons is 3.5 m
from the ground.
Table 2. Specifications of the rice straw bales.
Radius (m) Height (m) Weight (kgf)
Large large-round bale
0.7
1.4
250
Small large-round bale
0.6
1.2
220
Large small-round bale
0.25
1.1
30
Small small-round bale
0.2
0.8
20
Truck Type
2-ton Veryca
3-ton Mitsubishi Delica
3.49-ton Isuzu
6.2-ton Isuzu
7.5-ton Isuzu
11-ton Hino
15.5-ton Hino
17-ton Hino
24-ton Hino
32(5):
Calculating the Allowable Load of Round Bales for a
Truck
Truck capacity and the maximum load-carrying capacity
of a truck were used to derive the maximum load of round
bales that the trucks can carry. First, truck capacity was
divided by the bale volume to obtain the theoretical value of
the maximum bale load in terms of capacity. Second, the
maximum load-carrying capacity of a truck was divided by
the bale weight to attain the theoretical value of the
maximum bale load in terms of weight. Finally, from the
intersection of the two aforementioned conditions, the ideal
number of round bales that a truck can carry can be obtained.
The allowable cargo height was used to calculate the
maximum number of bale levels per bale stack. Considering
placing round bales in the two-dimensional areas of truck
beds, three types of stacks are possible: a flat stack,
horizontal stack, or vertical stack. The actual number of
round bales that a truck can carry can be obtained by
identifying the maximum value for the three stack types. The
ideal number and the actual number of round bales that the
trucks can carry were used to derive the optimal number of
round bales that the trucks can transport. Autodesk 3ds Max
was used to draw a schematic diagram to simulate the nine
trucks of various weights carrying the four types of round
rice straw bales uni-directionally arranged and optimally
stacked within load limits. Figure 2 shows an example of a
15.5-ton truck carrying large small-round bales. This truck
can carry 160 round bales (i.e., 4.8 tons), and the stack in this
example is within the 10.63-ton load limit.
Final Treatment and Use of Rice Straw
This study investigated four types of rice straw treatment: burning in an incinerator, making straw rope, making
straw mats, and producing bioethanol.
Figure 2. Using 3ds Max to simulate the scenario of stacking large
small-round bales on a 15.5-ton truck.
Table 3. Specifications of nine transportation trucks.
Length of Truck Bed Width of Truck Bed Height of Truck Bed Allowable Cargo Height Allowable Load
(mm)
(mm)
(mm)
(mm)
(ton)
2,306
1,481
744
2,106
0.8
2,850
1,635
801
2,048
1.2
4,215
1,475
848
2,001
1.4
4,215
1,475
755
3,045
4.1
4,952
1,680
800
3,000
4.7
7,050
2,175
900
2,900
7.7
8,190
2,445
900
2,900
10.6
8,250
2,460
900
2,900
12.2
8,805
2,490
1,085
2,715
16.1
Volume
(m3)
7.2
9.5
12.4
18.9
24.9
44.4
58.1
58.8
59.5
3
a) Burning rice straw in a refuse incinerator. 81% to
85% of rice straw is combustible. Burning rice straw
can reduce its volume and produce thermal energy. In
addition, the combustion conditions in an incinerator
and pollutant emissions can be controlled to prevent
air pollution, which typically results when burning
rice straw in open fields.
b) Making straw rope. Straw rope and mats made from
rice straw are evenly soft and can be used in various
industries (e.g., agriculture, fishing, horticulture,
forestry, sanitary, ceramics, marble, mining, plywood, cane sugar, and foundry). Rope maker’s winch
is currently used for fabricating straw rope, which
does not require strenuous effort. However, preparing
the materials for rope production is, by contrast, an
exhausting task.
c) Making straw mats. Straw mats were previously used
in agriculture. Straw mats can be used to cover rice
straw during seedling cultivation for preventing weed
growth and sun exposure and maintaining soil moisture. In addition, straw mats are used to protect crops
(e.g., peanuts grown in coastal regions) from strong
winds.
d) Producing bioethanol. Ethanol fuel produced from
grain and cane sugar is called first-generation bioethanol, whereas those from agricultural waste such as
rice straw, bagasse, corn stalks, or wood fiber is
called second-generation bioethanol. The technology
for converting rice straw fiber into ethanol has been
developed for commercial production, which should
be realized in the near future.
ROUTE PLANNING FOR RICE STRAW COLLECTION AND
TRANSPORTATION
In this study, route planning involved creating centroids
for the collection and transportation sites and analyzing the
transportation routes. These centroids were devised for
13 townships in Nantou County and the farmers’
associations in the 13 townships, and the six scenarios are
as follows: (a) the centroids of 13 townships in Nantou
County, (b) the centroids of the rice straw production area
in the 13 townships, (c) the centroids of 11 townships in
which Renai and Sinyi Townships were excluded, (d) the
centroids of the rice straw production area in the
11 townships (Renai and Sinyi Townships were excluded),
(e) the centroids of the Caotun, Nantou, Mingjian, and
Jhushan Townships, and (f) the centroids of the rice straw
production area in Caotun, Nantou, Mingjian, and Jhushan
Townships. ArcGIS 10.1 was used to determine the optimal
routes and calculate the transportation and truck costs.
Planning Collection and Transportation Sites
In analyzing the centroids for the 13 townships in
Nantou County, assume that rice crops are evenly
distributed over a local area and the centroid of the local
area is an irregular-shaped geometric center. Then,
AutoCAD was used to create the centroids of various
townships in Nantou County (fig. 3). Google Earth was
employed to convert the coordinates of various townships
into latitude and longitude (table 4). Identifying the
4
Figure 3. Centroids of various townships in Nantou County.
centroid locations of these townships facilitated
determining site selection and transportation routes. The
farmers’ associations in the townships were used as the
transshipment points and the collection and transportation
sites for six scenarios were analyzed.
Route Planning
In this study, the seven models of rice straw collection
and transportation points were as follows: (a) the centroids
for the 13 townships in Nantou County, (b) the centroids
for the rice straw production area in the 13 townships,
(c) the centroids for the 11 townships in Nantou County
excluding Renai and Sinyi Township, (d) the centroids for
the rice straw production area in the 11 townships except
for Renai and Sinyi Township, (e) the centroids for Caotun
Township, Nantou, Mingjian Township, and Jhushan
Township, (f) the centroids for the rice straw production
area in the Caotun, Nantou, Mingjian, and Jhushan, and the
(g) the Wurih incineration plant. In this study, the centroid
locations of the geographic area and rice production area
were considered. Renai and Sinyi Townships were
excluded because these townships are located in mountain
areas, thus the rice straw production areas and the paddy
fields are small and transportation costs are high, as
indicated in a survey on the yearly production of rice straw
in Nantou County. Two methods for rice straw collection
and transportation were applied, namely, centralized (i.e.,
transport route from the townships to nearby farmers’
associations to the final treatment site) and noncentralized
(from the townships directly to the final treatment site)
Table 4. The coordinates for the centroids of
various townships in Nantou County.
Township
Longitude Coordinates
Latitude Coordinates
Caotun
120°46'34.07"
23°58'37.18"
Nantou
120°42'26.55"
23°55'05.11"
Mingjian
120°42'02.02"
23°51'16.97"
Jhushan
120°42'41.55"
23°41'37.19"
Jhongliao
120°51'59.37"
23°53'00.45"
Jiji
120°49'17.42"
23°48'23.04"
Lugu
120°47'14.74"
23°42'17.86"
Guoshing
120°55'26.53"
24°00'42.21"
Shueili
120°54'35.82"
23°45'48.05"
Puli
121°03'41.30"
23°57'52.88"
Yuchih
121°01'44.44"
23°49'37.84"
Renai
121°10'08.57"
24°02'49.16"
Sinyi
120°57'42.51"
23°41'26.91"
APPLIED ENGINEERING IN AGRICULTURE
transportation. The software ArcGIS was used to determine
optimal routes based on the shortest path and the cheapest
transportation cost, which were analyzed in this study.
COST CALCULATION FOR RICE STRAW COLLECTION AND
TRANSPORTATION
Rice straw is used to produce bioethanol or burned in an
incinerator; for these purposes, rice straw is baled into large
round bales, and the directionality of the rice straw is not
considered. Small round bales are directional; therefore,
they can be used for making rope and mats, producing
bioethanol, or burning in an incineration plant.
Mechanized rice straw baling can be categorized into
two approaches according to bale shape and size. One
method involves using a rice straw baler developed in
Taiwan; the other method involves using a hay baler to
compress rice straw into round bales. These baling methods
require different agricultural machinery and equipment for
rice straw processing and delivery.
Baling rice straw into large round bales requires a tractor
onto which a hay collector is hooked for gathering rice
straw. Subsequently, another tractor onto which a hay baler
is hooked is used to produce large round bales, which are
then arranged in a field and transported on a farm truck to a
cargo truck. Therefore, the agricultural machinery required
for large round bale production includes a hay collector, a
hay baler, a tractor, and a farm truck. Baling rice straw into
small round bales requires a tractor onto which a rice straw
baler can be hooked. Workers stack the small round bales
in a field, which are then transported using a farm truck to a
cargo truck. Therefore, the agricultural machinery required
for small round bale production includes a rice straw baler,
a tractor, workers for stacking bales, and a farm truck.
The costs for using agricultural machinery for baling,
collecting, transporting, and using rice straw include fixed
costs (i.e., machine depreciation, interest, and tax costs)
and variable costs (i.e., maintenance, tractor usage, fuel,
miscellaneous supplies, and labor costs). The calculation
methods are as follows.
Fixed costs for agricultural machinery:
A. Depreciation costs: Using the straight-line depreciation method, assume that farm machinery costs are P
monetary unit (mu), the residual value ratio after N
years is α, the number of yearly usage hours is H, and
the operation ability of agricultural machinery is S
tons/h. The formula is expressed as:
C. Tax costs for agricultural machinery: Assume that tax
is 2% of farm machinery costs. The calculation formula for tax costs is presented below.
Tax costs:
P × 0.02 1  mu 
× 

H
S  Ton 
Fixed costs of agricultural machinery are the sum of
depreciation costs, interest costs, and tax costs, as follows:
Fixed costs:
P × (1 − α ) 1 P × (1 + α ) β 1
× +
× ×
N×H
S
2
H S
P × 0.02 1  mu 
+
× 

H
S  Ton 
Maintenance costs:
P × 0.031 1  mu 
× 

100
S  Ton 
B. Interest costs for agricultural machinery: Assume that
the rate of interest per annum is β. Equation 2 is the
calculation formula for interest costs.
Tractor usage costs:
B 1  mu 
× 

H S  Ton 
(6)
C. Fuel costs: Fuel consumption for diesel engines is
approximately 12.4 hp/h. Assume that horsepower
output is 80%, diesel price is D dollars/L, and tractor
horsepower is T ps, then the fuel cost is calculated
using equation 7.
Fuel costs:
1
1  mu 
× D× 

12.4
S  Ton 
(7)
D. Costs of miscellaneous supplies: Assume that the
cost of miscellaneous supplies is 15% of fuel costs.
Equation 8 is the calculation formula for the costs of
miscellaneous supplies.
Costs of miscellaneous supplies:
Interest costs:
p × (1 + α )
2
32(5):
(5)
B. Tractor usage costs: A tractor can be used for various
operations. Assume that tractor usage costs per hour
are B; thus, the cost is calculated as:
T × 80% ×
(1)
(4)
Variable costs for agricultural machinery:
A. Maintenance costs: Maintenance costs vary according
to usage methods, status of machinery, workload, and
operating environments. According to an investigation, the maintenance costs of agricultural machinery
are approximately 0.031% of the purchase price of
new agricultural machinery (ASAE Standards, 1963).
Equation 5 is the calculation formula for maintenance
costs:
Depreciation costs:
P × (1 − α ) 1  mu 
× 

N×H
S  Ton 
(3)
×
β 1  mu 
× 

H S  Ton 
(2)
 mu 
Miscellaneous costs × 15% 

 Ton 
(8)
5
E. Labor costs: Labor costs include machine operators
and on-site workers. Assume that the hourly wage is
Q, the number of daily working hours is 8, and the
number of people employed is M. The labor cost is
calculated using equation 9:
Labor costs:
1  mu 
Q× M× 

S  Ton 
(9)
F. The variable costs of agricultural machinery are the
sum of maintenance, tractor usage, fuel, miscellaneous supplies, and labor costs. Equation 10 is the
calculation formula for variable costs.
Variable costs:
P × 0.031 1 B 1
1
1
× + × + T × 80% ×
×D×
100
S H S
12.4
S
1  mu 
+ fuel cost × 15% + Q × M × 

S  Ton 
(10)
G. Transportation costs: Assume that truck rental is C
mu/day (eight hours for a day), average fuel consumption is G (km/L), transportation distance per day
is K (km), and the operation ability for transportation
per day is L kg. Equation 11 is the calculation formula for transportation costs.
Transportation costs:
G × K × D + C  mu 


L
 Kg 
(11)
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
COST ANALYSIS OF STRAW COLLECTION
Considering small round bales, a newly purchased rice
straw baler, a Sun L-500 (San-Shen Agricultural Machinery
Science and Technology Co., Ltd., Yilan, Taiwan) is used
as an example. The price of the rice straw baler is
US$13,300. This machine can bale 2 tons of rice straw/h
and produce 100 bales/h, with each bale weighing 20 kg.
Regarding large round bales, collecting rice straw is first
required and then a hay baler is used for baling. Using a
newly purchased hay collector as an example, its price is
US$6,700. This piece of equipment can collect 15 tons of
rice straw per hour. The price of a newly purchased hay
baler is between US$23,300 and US$40,000; hence, the
average price is US$31,700. Hay balers can process 4 tons
of rice straw/h and produce 16 bales/h, with each bale
weighing 250 kg. Collecting and baling rice straw requires
a tractor with a functional power take-off (PTO) shaft.
Therefore, a tractor driver is required and the operation
efficiency is assumed to be 80%.
Small round bales are short and light; therefore, farm
field workers are needed to move and stack them in a field.
Stacking 35 round bales/h requires two farm field workers.
Farm trucks, with the ability to move 20 tons of round
bales/h, are priced at approximately US$50,000 and price
varies according to brand and weight. One truck driver is
6
required for the work. Equations 1 to 10 are used to
calculate related costs (tables 5 and 6).
Baling operations for producing small round bales
necessitate a rice straw baler and at least four workers,
including a baler operator, two workers (to move and stack
the bales), and one farm truck driver. Currently, the baling
process occurring in a farm entails a baler operator to
produce bales, farm field workers to move and stack the
bales, which are transported to a cargo truck using a farm
truck. At this point, the rice straw baler can be moved to
another area for baling operations, while the cargo truck
driver delivers them to the required destination. Considering
large round bale production, a hay baler is used and at least
three workers (including a hay collector operator, a baler
operator, and a farm truck driver) are required. Specifically,
the hay collector operator collects the rice straw in the field
and then delivers them to another area. A hay baler operator
produces large round bales, which are then transported by a
farm truck driver to a cargo truck.
As shown in table 5, the fixed cost for a ton of large round
bales is 41.33 US cents higher than the fixed cost for a ton of
small round bales. Large round bales are slightly more
expensive than small round bales because rice straw
collection is required during a baling operation. As shown in
table 6, the variable cost for a ton of small round bales is
23.61 US cents higher than that for a ton of large round
bales. This price difference is attributed to the additional bale
stacking process required during baling operation. The baling
cost per ton of small round bale is US$54.89 and that of
large round bales is US$31.69, which differs by US$23.2,
indicating a minimal difference in the fixed cost of both
bales. This difference is caused by variable costs, which
substantially affect the total costs of the baling operation.
Table 5. Fixed costs for small and large round bale collection.
Unit Cost of
Unit Cost of
Small Round Bales Large Round Bales
Items for Cost-Effective Analysis (US cents/ton)
(US cents/ton)
Hay collector depreciation costs
8.33
Hay collector interest costs
0.71
Hay collector tax costs
1.85
Baler depreciation costs
125.00
148.44
Baler interest costs
10.69
12.70
Baler tax costs
27.78
32.98
Farm truck depreciaiton costs
46.87
46.87
Farm truck interest costs
4.01
4.01
Farm truck tax costs
10.42
10.42
Total fixed costs
224.77
266.31
Table 6. Variable costs for small and large round bale collection.
Unit Cost of Small Unit Cost of Large
Round Bales
Round Bales
Items for Cost-Effective Analysis (US cents/ton)
(US cents/ton)
Maintenance costs
206.67
259.19
Tractor usage costs
3,333.33
2,111.10
Fuel costs
278.33
176.27
Costs of miscellaneous supplies
41.75
26.44
Labor costs
333.33
211.10
Farm field worker costs
952.38
Farm truck maintenance costs
77.50
77.50
Farm truck fuel and usage costs
7.14
7.14
Farm truck miscellaneous
1.07
1.07
supplies costs
Farm truck driver costs
33.33
33.33
Total variable costs
5,264.84
2,903.14
APPLIED ENGINEERING IN AGRICULTURE
PLANNING THE ROUTE THAT YIELDS THE LOWEST
TRANSPORTATION COST
Rice straw is typically transported along farmlands that
are accessible through agricultural roads, which large
trucks often cannot use. Thus, the weight of a truck for
first-stage transportation is limited to below 3.5 tons (i.e.,
2-, 3-, and 3.5-ton trucks). These three trucks are combined
with six other types of trucks (i.e., 6.2-, 7.5-, 11-, 15.5-, 17-,
and 24-ton trucks) for transshipment. With the
18 combinations coupled with the route distance
determined by ArcGIS, the lowest transportation cost can
be obtained using equation 11. In addition, the 12 scenarios
described in Section 2.3 are also included for analysis.
Transportation costs are calculated based on truck rental,
driver wages, and truck fuel costs. Truck rentals and fuel
costs vary according to truck weight. When a 3.49-ton
truck is used to transport small large-round bales, the
assumptions for calculating unit cost are as follows: Fuel
consumption is 0.1 L/km; the load capacity is 660 kg, the
transportation speed is 60 km/h, diesel price is US$1.08 per
L, and the driver wages are US$53.33 per day. Although a
round trip is required for rice straw transportation, a truck
carries rice straw only during outbound trips. Therefore, the
load capacity per truck is 330 kg; the fuel cost for a truck
carrying 330 kg of rice straw and traveling 480 km per day
(i.e., 8 hours) is US$51.52 (i.e., 0.1 × 1.08 × 480); driver
wage is US$53.33 per day; and truck rental is US$83.33.
Therefore, the unit transportation cost is US$1.19/ton·kg
(i.e., [53.33+83.33 +51.52]/[330×480]). Using the
aforementioned assumptions, the unit transportation costs
for various trucks carrying various types of rice straw bales
can be obtained.
As shown in table 7, the scenario for the lowest centralized
transportation cost is to transport rice straw from farm fields to
nearby farmers’ associations to the rice straw production area
in Caotun Township, Nantou, Mingjian Township, and
Jhushan Township. A 3.49-ton truck is used for first-stage
transportation traveling an average distance of 15.911 km. A
15.5-ton truck is used for second-stage transportation traveling
an average distance of 24.92 km. The transportation cost for
small large-round bales is US$20.7 per ton, and that for small
small-round bales is US$17.5 per ton. According to table 8,
the scenario for the lowest noncentralized transportation cost is
to transport rice straw on a 3.49-ton truck from farm fields to
the rice straw production area in Caotun Township, Nantou,
Mingjian Township, and Jhushan Township (an average
transportation distance of 37.071 km). The transportation cost
for large large-round bales is US$29.66 per ton, and that for
small small-round bales is US$26 per ton. For both centralized
and noncentralized transportation, transporting rice straw to
the rice straw production area in Caotun Township, Nantou,
Mingjian Township, and Jhushan Township is the least
expensive. The average distance for centralized transportation
is 3.75 km longer than that for noncentralized transportation.
Because agricultural roads are typically used, only trucks
weighing below 3.49 tons can be used for first-stage
transportation. Therefore, the cost of noncentralized
32(5):
transportation is higher than that of centralized transportation.
TOTAL COSTS FOR RICE STRAW COLLECTION AND
TRANSPORTATION
Various rice straw bales differ in weight and volume,
which influence the number of bales that a truck can carry
and the number of trips required. Equations 1 to 10 are used
to calculate the collection costs of various types of bales.
As shown in tables 8 and 9, small large-round bales are the
optimal form for transporting to the Wurih incineration
plant. During centralized transportation, 3.49-ton truck is
used in the first stage to transport the bales from the farm to
neighboring farmers’ associations (average distance of
13.706 km), and 15.5-ton truck is used in the second stage
to transport the bales from the farmer associations to the
incineration plant (average distance of 37.774 km). By
using equation 11, the transportation cost per ton is
US$21.76 and the collection cost per ton is US$31.66. The
total collection and transportation cost for 30,126 tons of
rice straw in Nantou County is US$1.60973 million.
According to the analysis of 12 scenarios, the first-stage
centralized transportation involves transporting to the rice
straw production area in Caotun Township, Nantou,
Mingjian Township, and Jhushan Township, in which the
shortest route is from the centroid of Mingjian Township to
the Mingjian farmers’ association (distance of 2.473 km),
followed by that from the centroid of Nantou to the Nantou
farmers’ association (distance of 2.536 km). The shortest
transportation route for second-stage transportation is from
the Nantou farmers’ association to the rice straw production
area in Caotun, Nantou, Mingjian, and Jhushan Township
(distance of 3.231 km), followed by that from the Mingjian
farmers’ association to the rice straw production area in
Caotun Township, Nantou, Mingjian Township, and
Jhushan Township (distance of 7.096 km). Overall, the
shortest total centralized transportation distance is
5.767 km from Nantou to the production area because the
treatment sites at Caotun, Mingjian, and Jhushan
Townships are located near Nantou.
The optimal method is to transport rice straw from farm
fields to the rice straw production area in Caotun, Nantou,
Mingjian, and Jhushan Townships. The first-stage and
second-stage transportation distances are 15.911 km and
24.92 km, respectively. The transportation cost per ton is
US$20.7, the optimal bale pattern is small large-round bale,
and the collection cost per ton is US$31.66. The total cost
for rice straw collection and transportation is US$1.57760
million, the lowest cost among the 12 scenarios.
CONCLUSION
This study planned and analyzed the optimal modes for
rice straw collection and transportation in Nantou County.
According to the results, a centralized transportation from
the 13 townships in Nantou County to the centroid location
of the rice production areas in Caotun Township, Nantou,
Mingjian Township, and Jhushan Township yielded the
least cost at US$1.5776 million per year.
7
Table 7. Optimal rice straw collection and transportation method in various
hypothetical scenarios and related costs (centralized transportation).
Collection Cost
Transportation Cost
Total Cost
The Optimal Model for Various Scenarios
Bale
Truck Weight
(US dollars/ton)
(US dollars/ton)
(1000 US dollars)
in Centralized Transportation
Form
(1st 2nd)[a]
The centroid of the 13 townships in Nantou County
SLR[b]
3.49  15.5
31.66
22.53
1,632.83
SSR[b]
3.49  15.5
54.86
19.3
2,234.33
The centroid of the rice straw production area in the
SLR
3.49  15.5
31.66
21.33
1,596.67
13 townships
SSR
3.49  15.5
54.86
18.06
2,197.20
The centroid of the 11 townships excluding Renai and
SLR
3.49  15.5
31.66
20.89
1,583.42
Sinyi
SSR
3.49  15.5
54.86
18.26
2,203.20
The centroid of the rice straw production area in the
SLR
3.49  15.5
3166
21.26
1,594.67
11 townships excluding Renai and Sinyi
SSR
3.49  15.5
54.86
17.86
2,191.17
The centroid of Caotun Township, Nantou, Mingjian
SLR
3.49  15.5
31.66
21.13
1,590.67
Township, and Jhushan Township
SSR
3.49  15.5
54.86
18.06
2,197.20
The centroid of the rice straw production area in Caotun,
SLR
3.49  15.5
31.66
20.7
1,577.60
Nantou, Mingjian, and Jhushan
SSR
3.49  15.5
54.86
17.5
2,180.13
To Wurih incineration plant
SLR
3.49  15.5
31.66
21.76
1,609.73
SSR
3.49  15.5
54.86
18.76
2,218.27
[a]
1st 2nd: 1st denotes the truck weight for the first-stage transportation; 2nd denotes the truck weight for the second-stage transportation
[b]
SLR represents small large-round bales and SSR denotes small small-round bales
Table 8. Optimal rice straw collection and transportation methods in various
hypothetical scenarios and related costs (noncentralized transportation).
The Optimal Model for Various Scenarios
Bale
Truck
Collection Cost
Transportation Cost
in Noncentralized Transportation
Form
Weight
(US dollars/ton)
(US dollars/ton)
The centroid of the 13 townships in Nantou County
LLR[a]
3.49
31.66
39.6
SSR[a]
3.49
54.86
34.6
The centroid of the rice straw production area in the
LLR
3.49
31.66
33.46
13 townships
SSR
3.49
54.86
29.16
The centroid of the 11 townships excluding Renai and
LLR
3.49
31.66
33.96
Sinyi
SSR
3.49
54.86
29.8
The centroid of the rice straw production area in the
LLR
3.49
31.66
34.03
11 townships excluding Renai and Sinyi
SSR
3.49
54.86
29.63
The centroid of Caotun, Nantou, Mingjian, and Jhushan
LLR
3.49
31.66
37.73
SSR
3.49
54.86
32.56
The centroid of the rice straw production area in the
LLR
3.49
31.66
29.66
Caotun, Nantou, Mingjian, and Jhushan
SSR
3.49
54.86
26
To Wurih incineration plant
LLR
3.49
31.66
38.06
SSR
3.49
54.86
33.2
[a]
LLR represents large large-round bales and SSR denotes small small-round bales
The costs of the two-stage centralized transportation
method are lower than the costs of the one-stage noncentralized transportation method. This study also assessed
the optimal methods for transporting rice straw to the
Wurih incineration plant in Taichung and the related costs.
The results showed that the cost of the centralized
transportation method, (i.e., first sending the rice straw
from various townships to farmers’ associations and then to
the Wurih incineration plant) is lower than the that of the
noncentralized transportation method, yielding a difference
of US$491,070. A 3.49- and 15.5-ton truck is optimal for
the first-stage and second-stage transportation, respectively.
Finally, the optimal bale form is small large-round bale.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We gratefully acknowledge the financial assistance of
the Environmental Protection Bureau, Nantou County
Government, Taiwan.
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APPLIED ENGINEERING IN AGRICULTURE