Biofuel Distribution

Using densified biomass to produce biofuels has the potential to reduce the cost of delivering biomass to biorefineries. Densified biomass has physical properties similar to grain, and therefore, the transportation system in support of delivering densified biomass to a biorenery is expected to emulate the current grain transportation system. By analyzing transportation costs for products like grain and woodchips, this paper identifies the main factors that impact the delivery cost of densified biomass and quantifies those factors’ impact on transportation costs. This paper provides a transportation-cost analysis which will aid the design and management of biofuel supply chains. This evaluation is very important because the expensive logistics and transportation costs are one of the major barriers slowing development in this industry. Regression analysis indicates that transportation costs for densified biomass will be impacted by transportation distance, volume shipped, transportation mode used, and shipment destination, just to name a few. Since biomass production is concentrated in the Midwestern United States, a biorefinery’s shipments will probably come from that region. For shipments from the Midwest to the Southeast US, barge transportation, if available, is the least expensive transportation mode. If barge is not available, then unit trains are the least expensive mode for distances longer than 161 km (100 miles). For shipments from the Midwest to the West US, unit trains are the least expensive transportation mode for distances over 338 km (210 miles). For shorter distances, truck is the least expensive transportation mode for densified biomass.

Autors:R.L. Bain, W.A. Amos, M. Downing, R.L. Perlack
The objective of this report is to provide an overview assessment of the state of the biopower industry and the technology for producing electricity and heat from biomass. The assessment addresses the industry status, barriers to development, feedstock characterization, lessons learned from the existing industry and selected development projects, the technical and economic characteristics of applicable technologies, the environmental performance of biopower systems, and policy issues affecting past and future development. Supporting information is supplied on the thermal and physical properties of biomass. A significant body of work exists on this subject, much of it developed through U. S. Department of Energy efforts and funding. Where applicable, existing DOE funded studies are excerpted into this report.

This presentation provides an overview of biorefineries in the U.S. The presentation was given at the 1st Brazilian National Refinery Symposium (SNBr) At EMBRAPA
Brasilia, DF, Brazil. September 29, 2011.

This document provides an overview of the National Bioenergy Routing model that is integrated within the Bioenergy KDF.

ABSTRACT: A growing number of countries are implementing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions trading schemes. As these schemes impose a cost for GHG emissions they should increase the competitiveness of low carbon fuels. Bioenergy from biomass is regarded as carbon neutral in most of the schemes, therefore incurring no emission costs. Emissions trading schemes may therefore encourage increased use of biomass for energy, and under certain conditions may also incentivize the construction of new bioenergy plants. This paper first identifies design elements in emissions trading schemes that influence the use of biomass. It then discusses the experiences with the EU-ETS so far and compares the design elements of the EU-ETS with different existing and emerging trading schemes in the US, Australia and New Zealand, with focus on factors that may influence the use of biomass. Furthermore, the paper analyses how incentives for bioenergy change as the price of carbon changes and which trade offs may have to be considered, if emissions trading schemes are linked.

Urbana—Representatives from academia, government, industry, and the private sector have joined together to form the Illinois Biomass Working Group (IBWG), a coalition organized to study near-term uses for biomass in Illinois.

Transportation fuels are the major component of our energy portfolio. Of the 20 million barrels of petroleum consumed each day in the United States, 68 percent is used in the transportation sector. The Western states are in position to become key producers and beneficiaries in the emerging alternative-fuels economy. We have abundant resources that have great potential as domestic sources for transportation fuels. In 2008, the Western Governors accepted a report and passed a resolution reaffirming their commitment to developing and diversifying the region's transportation fuels portfolio. The following report is the February 2008 report from the Western Governors Association titled Transportation Fuels for the Future.

Ethanol use in vehicle fuel is increasing worldwide, but the potential cancer risk and
ozone-related health consequences of a large-scale conversion from gasoline to ethanol
have not been examined. Here, a nested global-through-urban air pollution/weather
forecast model is combined with high-resolution future emission inventories, population
data, and health effects data to examine the effect of converting from gasoline to E85 on
cancer, mortality, and hospitalization in the U.S. as a whole and Los Angeles in
particular. Under the base-case emission scenario derived, which accounted for projected
improvements in gasoline and E85 vehicle emission controls, it was found that E85 (85%
ethanol fuel, 15% gasoline) may increase ozone-related mortality, hospitalization, and
asthma by about 9% in Los Angeles and 4% in the U.S. as a whole relative to 100%
gasoline. Ozone increases in Los Angeles and the northeast were partially offset by
decreases in the southeast. E85 also increased PAN in the U.S. but was estimated to cause
little change in cancer risk. Due to its ozone effects, future E85 may be a greater overall
public health risk than gasoline. However, because of the uncertainty in future emission
regulations, it can be concluded with confidence only that E85 is unlikely to improve air
quality over future gasoline vehicles. Unburned ethanol emissions from E85 may result in
a global-scale source of acetaldehyde larger than that of direct emissions.

To study the potential effects of increased biofuel use, we evaluated six representative analyses
of fuel ethanol. Studies that reported negative net energy incorrectly ignored coproducts and used
some obsolete data. All studies indicated that current corn ethanol technologies are much less
petroleum-intensive than gasoline but have greenhouse gas emissions similar to those of gasoline.
However, many important environmental effects of biofuel production are poorly understood.
New metrics that measure specific resource inputs are developed, but further research into
environmental metrics is needed. Nonetheless, it is already clear that large-scale use of ethanol
for fuel will almost certainly require cellulosic technology.

Despite a rapid worldwide expansion of the biofuel industry, there is a lack of consensus within the scientific community about the potential of biofuels to reduce reliance on petroleum and decrease greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Although life cycle assessment provides a means to quantify these potential benefits and environmental impacts, existing methods limit direct comparison within and between different biofuel systems because of inconsistencies in performance metrics, system boundaries, and underlying parameter values. There is a critical need for standardized life-cycle methods, metrics, and tools to evaluate biofuel systems based on performance of feedstock production and biofuel conversion at regional or national scales, as well as for estimating the net GHG mitigation of an individual biofuel production system to accommodate impending GHG-intensity regulations and GHG emissions trading. Predicting the performance of emerging biofuel systems (e.g., switchgrass cellulosic ethanol) poses additional challenges for life cycle assessment due to lack of commercial-scale feedstock production and conversion systems. Continued political support for the biofuel industry will be influenced by public perceptions of the contributions of biofuel systems towards mitigation of GHG emissions and reducing dependence on petroleum for transportation fuels. Standardization of key performance metrics such as GHG emissions mitigation and net energy yield are essential to help inform both public perceptions and public policy.