PM—Power and Machinery: Development and Evaluation of Kenaf Harvesting Technology

Laboratory and field tests have demonstrated that a component approach to harvesting kenaf and separating the fibre and core has a lot of potential. Machines used for harvesting kenaf required only minor, if any, modification. The straw-walker from a combine harvester proved to work very well to separate the kenaf fibre and core. More work needs to be performed to expand the prototype separator into a production unit. Transportation of the whole stalk material from field sites to the processing facility proved to be expensive due to the low density of the material. In-field separation could reduce this cost by 50 per cent.