3-01: DOE’s perspective on feedstock supply logistics

The need for feedstock logistical systems capable of efficiently and reliably handling and delivering year-round, high tonnage volumes of feedstock materials to support the anticipated rapid escalation of a cellulosic biofuels production industry has been identified as a significant barrier to the expansion of the industry.  For any biomass conversion process to be competitive in the marketplace, it must be able to deliver equivalent or better product at a price that meets or beats the current fossil-derived fuel or chemical.  Delivered cost of cellulosic feedstock materials is the single largest cost component for both thermochemical and biochemical biomass conversion processes, therefore, it is imperative that key advances in unit logistical operations be achieved to meet the cost requirements and quality specifications of the process.  The feedstock standing in the field is not the material provided to the conversion platform.  Operations within the feedstock supply system such as harvesting, transportation, grinding, storage, and densification can significantly impact or modify the chemical and physical attributes of the biomass feedstock.  Process volume requirements, feedstock quality specifications and cost parameters drive current OBP-sponsored research and development efforts. DOE continues to support the increased production of high volumes of sustainably produced domestic biofuels from cellulosic feedstock materials, in part, by funding five diverse demonstration projects to design new systems or adapt existing systems to handle and deliver industrial scale volumes of a variety of cellulosic feedstocks from the harvest point to the mouth of the biorefinery.