Total and Sustainable Utilization of Biomass Resources: A Perspective

Feedstock cost is a major variable cost component in conversion to biofuels and chemicals. Consistent feedstock quality is critically important to achieve high product yield and maximum onstream time. Traditionally, raw biomass materials are delivered directly to the biorefineries where they are preprocessed to feedstock prior to being converted to products. Since many types of biomass materials-including agricultural residues, energy crops, and logging residues-are harvested according to growth cycles and optimal harvesting time, just-in-time steady supply of raw biomass to the biorefineries is not possible. Instead, biomass materials are stored, then delivered to the biorefineries as needed. Experience to date indicates that this approach has caused many issues related to logistics, biomass losses due to microbial degradation and fire, and inconsistent feedstock quality due to variability in the properties of as-delivered biomass. These factors have led to high feedstock cost, low throughput, and low product yield for the biorefineries. Idaho National Laboratory has developed a new strategy to address the problems encountered in the traditional approach in biomass feedstock supply, storage, and preprocessing mentioned above. The key components of this strategy are (1) preservation and preconditioning of biomass during storage, (2) utilization of all the biomass, including minor components that are normally considered wastes or contaminants, and (3) maximization of the value of each component. This new approach can be accomplished using feedstock preprocessing depots located near the biomass-production sources.