Processing Steps of Renewable Raw Material Logistic Chains

Processing Steps of Renewable Raw Material Logistic Chains 

Cultivation and Harvesting for Selected Types of Renewable Raw Materials 

Furthermore, the fundamental principle of crop rotahon underlies commercial agriculture [47]. Unlike in untouched environments where several species share a habitat, agricultural fields are planted with monocultures for one entire life cycle of a crop. As this exhausts the soil and makes plantahons vulnerable to weeds and pests, natural diversity needs to be simulated by a systematic seasonal sequence of different crops. Cover crops (e.g., mustard) can be grown to close gaps in the sequence and to support soil recreation. The latter effect is also created by the incorporation of set-aside land into the crop rotahon. 

In some agricultural regions, the use of irrigation schemes can be necessary to ensure sufficient water supply. While this plays a minor role in Central Europe, some countries like Israel are highly dependent on irrigation to sustain their agricultural output. 

Implementation of crop rotation and tillage alone does not prevent the occurrence of pests on the field. If additional mechanical operations are not sufficient, not wanted for economic or environmental reasons or not possible because of 

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In comparison to industrial utiUzation chains for fossil raw materials chains for renewable raw materials are differing manifold. In the foUowing, main determining factors leading to different processing steps and special requirements concerning the logistics of renewable raw material-based industrial value chains are discussed. These comprise the natural environment in which it is operated, the characteristics of the renewable raw materials as well as the involved actors and stakeholders which are crucial for the mobihzation of the renewable raw materials. 

The structure of this chapter is as follows. First, we characterize renewable raw materials concerning the determining factors for logistics. Thereby we also consider the issues regarding the mobihzation of the available biomass. Following this the processing steps for the provision of the biomass are explained before we derive the consequences for the planning of the industrial scale utiUzation chains. Finally, we summarize our contribution and draw conclusions. 

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