The Jordan RH 25 chipper at work on olive prunings

In Italy, olive groves produce around 2 t prunings per ha per year, equivalent to a potential national yield of 2 million t of biomass, seen as a valuable energy resource. The forest chipper Jordan RH 25, manufactured in Germany and modified to gather and chip prunings, is described, with details of how it works (basically a disc chipper with an hydraulic pick-up), costs based on the type of system, and advantages over a cutter-harvester. The systems of operation simulated were the chipper with 2 supporting tractors or with a container and one tractor, with annual or biennial pruning, and with ordinary, medium or heavy interventions. The major advantage of the chipper over the cutter-harvester was the production of more uniform and homogenous wood chips.