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Large-Scale Ethanol Fermentation Through Pipeline Delivery of Biomass

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Twenty-Sixth Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals

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Abstract

Issues of traffic congestion and community acceptance limit the size of biomass-processing plants based on truck delivery to about 2 million (M) dry t/yr or less. In this study, the cost of ethanol from an ethanol fermentation plant processing 2 M dry t/yr of corn stover supplied by truck is compared with that of larger plants in the range of 4–38 M dry t/yr supplied by a combination of trucks plus pipelines. For corn stover, a biomass source with a low yield per gross hectare, the cost of ethanol from larger plants is always higher. For wood chips from the boreal forest, a biomass source with a relatively high yield per gross hectare, a plant processing 14–38 M dry t/yr produces ethanol at a 13% reduction in cost compared with a plant producing 2 M dry t/yr supplied by truck. Processing of value-added products, such as chemicals from lignin, would be enabled by larger-scale plants.

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Kumar, A., Cameron, J.B., Flynn, P.C. (2005). Large-Scale Ethanol Fermentation Through Pipeline Delivery of Biomass. In: Davison, B.H., Evans, B.R., Finkelstein, M., McMillan, J.D. (eds) Twenty-Sixth Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals. ABAB Symposium. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-991-2_4

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