Lignocellulosic biomass feedstocks are available at different costs and qualities (determined by total carbohydrate and ash contents). It is well known that some mixed biomass feedstocks may have higher energy density than corn stover alone, resulting in lower transportation cost, less storage space, and higher yield per unit mass or volume. Additionally, appropriate feedstock blending operations may improve biomass uniformity, which may lead to synergistic benefits through biorefinery conversion operations beyond the use of individual feedstocks. However, the impact of these potential benefits on the minimum selling price of biofuels has not been well studied. Additionally, the cost of biomass feedstocks is required to determine based on their qualities. This study bridges these research gaps and provides a detailed analysis considering four different biomass feedstocks, including corn stover, miscanthus, switchgrass, and biomass sorghum. We provide the impacts of these biomass feedstock blends on the minimum selling price of three different conventional and advanced biofuels, including ethanol, isopentenol, and bisabolane. We also present the normalized cost of biomass feedstocks based on their qualities. We find that the minimum selling prices of final products are largely dependent on the total carbohydrate contents of the feedstock blends. The results indicate that, in addition to feedstock cost, the carbohydrate contents of biomass is an important metric to consider, which provides the economic benefits by increasing the amount of the final product. Our results also elucidate the tradeoffs and break-even points between minimizing feedstock cost and maximizing quality.

Economic benefits of mixed biomass feedstocks for conventional and advanced biofuels production

2019 Spring National Meeting

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.