Purpose-designed Lignocellulosic Feedstock Supply Systems

In 2009, the Bioenergy Technologies Office (formerly the Biomass Program) released a Funding Opportunity Announcement entitled “Development of Supply Systems to Handle and Deliver High Tonnage Biomass Feedstocks for Cellulosic Biofuels Production” (DE-FOA-0000060).  The intent of this FOA was “to stimulate the design and demonstration of a comprehensive system to handle the harvesting, collection, preprocessing, transport and storage of sufficient volumes of sustainably produced feedstocks required to achieve the rapid expansion of the commercial domestic biofuels industry”.  Five projects were selected for award from this FOA, which together span a variety of crop residues, dedicated herbaceous and woody feedstock crops, as well as system designs.  Recipients of the awards were required to partner with an original equipment manufacturer for the design and fabrication of prototype, field-scale equipment, which was demonstrated extensively during the project period.  Recipients were also required to include a biorefinery partner to assess the suitability of feedstock materials harvested using the new logistics systems in their conversion process.  These five projects are now all approaching completion and have demonstrated novel feedstock logistics systems in real world situations that significantly reduce delivered feedstock cost relative to conventional systems.  This presentation will briefly highlight some of the logistics strategies employed, the equipment designs and efficiencies demonstrated, and show how the logistics-related costs of delivered feedstocks can be significantly reduced through the use of efficient system designs and purpose-designed equipment.