3-14: Assessing Lignocellulosic Biomass Availability in California Using Four Models: DOE’s Updated Billion Ton Report, NREL’s BioFuels Atlas, the Western Governors’ Association Biomass Assessment, and the California Energy Commission’s

Conversion of cellulosic biomass to transportation fuels is of importance due to the pressing need for alternative sources to crude oil to address strategic, economic, and environmental issues.  Furthermore, California uses more gasoline than any other state in the United States.  In light of this need, a study is conducted to identify and assess the lignocellulosic potential in California.  The study is performed by using four models that are developed in the last decade for assessment of biomass potential.  These models include two national and two regional models: the recently updated U.S. Department of Energy’s Billion Ton Report, the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) interactive program known as BioFuels Atlas, the regional Western Governors’ Association (WGA) Biomass Assessment, and the California sponsored Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) Collaborative Report.  The study compared the models’ predictions of California’s lignocellulosic availability according to the categories of agriculture, forestry, and municipal solid wastes and determined the contributors to the differences among them.