Renewable Energy and Biomass Transport

One of the obstacles to large scale bioenergy production is getting the biomass feedstock from the farm to the plant, whether it be the power plant, the refinery, etc. Transportation costs, if not held in check, can make an otherwise profitable operation unfeasible. The bulk of biomass and it's low energy density can make transportation uneconomical. The assumption used by experts in the field is that the maximum distance which biomass can be economically hauled is 50 miles. Anything outside of 50 miles and the costs simply become too great.

The Southwest Farm Press reports that Texas A&M is working on developing new methods for transporting biomass, specifically energy sorghum. Their work so far has concentrated on using cotton harvest equipment, specifically module builders. The sorghum is harvested and put into a silage wagon in the field. The wagon then takes the sorghum to a module builder at the end of the field, where it is compressed into a module and encased in a protective cover for transport.

One quote from the article by Dr. Bill Rooney indicated the future of their research:

"While we are using cotton equipment to prove the concept, new machines optimized for energy biomass will be needed."

I have no doubt that dedicated equipment could probably do the job better than machinery that was originally designed for handling other crops and materials. However, growers may well be skittish about making a large investment in equipment to grow a crop that is currently unproven. When energy crop production becomes common, there will be a place for specialized equipment, but until that time, let's hope that growers can learn to make effective use of the equipment that is already in their sheds.