Implementing residue chippers on harvesting operations in the southeastern US for biomass recovery

Jernigan, Patrick; Gallagher, Tom; Aulakh, Jaspreet; Tufts, Robert A.; McDonald, Timothy P.

doi:10.1080/14942119.2013.798130

Cited by 13 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…While several studies have estimated biomass harvesting and transportation costs nationally [11,12], in the Northwest [13][14][15], Southeast [16][17][18], and in the upper Midwest [19,20], few studies have addressed the Northeast [21]. In Maine, some recent studies have addressed individual aspects of the biomass supply chain, such as logging contractor characteristics and harvesting methods [9], harvesting productivity [22,23], early commercial thinning costs [24], and challenges for expanding biomass harvesting in Maine [25]; however, no studies have thoroughly analyzed the costs for harvesting and transporting biomass to the end user in Maine.…”

Section: Review Of Existing Biomass Supply Chain Studies and Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While biomass may currently be a waste product of the forestry industry, resulting in many studies allocating the entire harvesting cost to timber products, this does not take into account the opportunity cost of allocating resources to harvesting biomass. Some studies in the Southeast have shown that this opportunity cost may be important [16,17], and limiting biomass harvesting cost to only chipping may underestimate the total cost. Conrad et al [16] compared the cost of WT harvesting (with different harvesting equipment than Maine) and transportation of roundwood in North Carolina under three scenarios: 1) roundwood harvesting only (no biomass chipping); 2) integrated roundwood harvesting and biomass chipping; 3) biomass chipping only (no roundwood harvesting -similar to BTU).…”

Section: Review Of Existing Biomass Supply Chain Studies and Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Economic analysis of woody biomass supply chain in Maine

Whalley

Klein

Benjamin

2017

Biomass and Bioenergy

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An economic biomass supply chain model for Maine was developed to estimate the delivered cost of biomass chips using the stumpage price paid to the landowner, the cost of harvesting and chipping the logging residues, and the cost of transporting the biomass chips to a biorefinery for biofuel production. Harvesting costs were estimated using Maine-specific productivity equations, harvesting assumptions, and hourly costs, but the resulting model is applicable to any region with woody biomass. Transportation costs were estimated using round trip distance to the potential biorefinery. The delivered cost of biomass was estimated for multiple scenarios, including different machine cost rates, variables impacting machine productivity, transport distance, and stand characteristics. When biomass was treated as a waste product (only chipping costs included), the estimated delivered biomass cost was $11/green tonne (GT) (with a sensitivity analysis range of $4 to $24/GT), less than half the current biomass chip price in Maine ($28/GT). When a portion of the harvesting cost was included in the © 2016. This manuscript version is made available under the Elsevier user license http://www.elsevier.com/open-access/userlicense/1.0/ delivered biomass cost, the estimated delivered biomass cost increased three-fold to $30/GT (with a range of $8-$82/GT). The results of this analysis will serve as a portion of an integrated sustainability assessment for a new biofuel pathway. This model can be easily adapted to other geographical regions with different site-specific inputs.

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Section: Review Of Existing Biomass Supply Chain Studies and Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Review Of Existing Biomass Supply Chain Studies and Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic analysis of woody biomass supply chain in Maine

Whalley

Klein

Benjamin

2017

Biomass and Bioenergy

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“…Conventional logging already exists in the IMPLAN model, but the cost information of collecting and chipping logging residue were needed to specify woody biomass harvesting activity since this is considered a new activity in the model. Operating cost shares on machine purchase, capital costs, maintenance and repairs, fuel and lube, labor salary, and fringe labor costs from Jernigan et al (2013) were used to budget the activity of collecting and chipping logging residue.…”

Section: Regional Economic Impact and The Implan Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regional woody biomass supply and economic impacts from harvesting in the southern U.S

English

Menard

et al. 2016

Energy Economics

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“…In single‐pass or integrated (sawlogs plus biomass) harvesting, Harrill and Han illustrated that the production cost of woodchips (at a landing site) was about $30.00/ODMT despite very low chipper utilization (i.e., 41%). The delivered woodchip costs (included chipping, and hauling 67 km) from a forest thinning and a clear‐cut timber harvesting operation were $38.67/ODMT and $33.36/ODMT respectively …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most of the economic analyses of biomass have been related to the woodchips’ delivery from forest thinning operations, second‐pass harvesting of forest residues, and single‐pass or integrated harvesting of forest residues with sawlog harvesting . Comparative and holistic analyses of different forest residues supply chain configurations are scarce and limited .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic analysis of forest residues supply chain options to produce enhanced‐quality feedstocks

Sahoo

Bilek

Bergman

et al. 2018

Biofuels Bioprod Bioref

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Woody biomass feedstock that is both high quality and low cost has become increasingly important for the bioenergy and bioproducts industries. Logging generates forest residues – low‐quality feedstock – and additional operations that also incur additional costs, such as biomass sorting and treetops processing (BSTP), micro‐chipping, and screening, which are required to improve the feedstock's quality. Considering recent developments in technologies and BSTP to generate high‐quality feedstocks, economic models were developed in this study to estimate various forest‐residue logistics operational costs and to analyze the economics of delivering feedstocks to biomass conversion technology (BCT) sites near woods or power plants located far away in the form of chips, hog fuel, and bales. The results show that the cost of BSTP can vary between $30 and $82/ODMT (oven dry metric ton) based on the biomass sorting intensity. The most economical way to deliver forest residues was transporting processed stem‐wood from landings to near‐wood BCT sites and comminuting it into woodchips there (~$20/ODMT, assuming a one‐way (32 km) road distance and no cost of BSTP at landings). Grinding slash at the landing and transporting ground‐biomass (i.e., hog fuel) to a plant (< 22 km away) was more economical than transporting bales from landings and grinding at the plant. The economic feasibility of baling and BSTP requires a substantial productivity improvement or recognition and incorporation of benefits including reduced wildfire risk and improved forest health. High bulk density and strong shape of forest residues/slash bales compared to hog fuel may provide additional cost benefits during storage, for example through lower handling costs, which can be studied in the future. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

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Implementing residue chippers on harvesting operations in the southeastern US for biomass recovery

Cited by 13 publications

References 2 publications

Economic analysis of woody biomass supply chain in Maine

Economic analysis of woody biomass supply chain in Maine

Regional woody biomass supply and economic impacts from harvesting in the southern U.S

Economic analysis of forest residues supply chain options to produce enhanced‐quality feedstocks

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