3-10: Sugar release during pipeline transport of biomass

Biomass based refineries are at much smaller capacity than petroleum refineries. The capacity is constrained by the substantial transportation cost of biomass feedstock by truck.  Truck transportation of biomass does not take the advantage of economy of scale with the increasing the scale of operation. Pipeline transport cost of biomass materials in slurry form (chopped biomass in water) to a biorefinery decreases with the increase in the scale of operation. Pipeline transport of biomass is benefited by the economy of scale in capital cost.  It also helps in aggregation of biomass and could contribute significantly in increasing the scale.  The process of pipeline transport of biomass includes chopping of biomass, classifying of biomass to separate different particle size, mixing of biomass with water to form a slurry and then pumping of slurry through the pipeline.  The present research would study the effect of exposing agricultural biomass to water on its chemical characteristics, particularly the amount of sugar which is released to water during pipeline transportation. Sugar release can affect final yield of bio-fuel (e.g. ethanol). For this purpose, sugar release from agricultural biomass is measured at different time intervals, concentration and particle size. Slurry is sampled and analyzed using HPLC-MS to understand how, quantitatively, water can affect the biomass sugar content during pipeline transportation. The chromatograms would be used to compare the extent of sugar content in pipelined biomass.