Driftless Area Initiative Biomass Energy Project

Wright, Angie¹  Bertjens, Steve²  Lieurance, Mike¹  Berguson, Bill³  Buchman, Dan³ 

[1] Northeast Iowa Resource Conservation & Development, Inc., Postville, IA (United States);Natural Resources Conservation Service, Madison, WI (United States);Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States). Natural Resources Research Inst.

关键词: switchgrass;    feedstocks;    woody biomass;   

DOI  :  10.2172/1328870
RP-ID  :  DOE-NEIARCD--88174
PID  :  OSTI ID: 1328870

学科分类：燃料技术

美国|英语

来源: SciTech Connect

【 摘 要 】

The Driftless Area Initiative Biomass Energy Project evaluated the potential for biomass energy production and utilization throughout the Driftless Region of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. The research and demonstration aspect of the project specifically focused on biomass energy feedstock availability and production potential in the region, as well as utilization potential of biomass feedstocks for heat, electrical energy production, or combined heat and power operations. The Driftless Region was evaluated because the topography of the area offers more acres of marginal soils on steep slopes, wooded areas, and riparian corridors than the surrounding ???Corn Belt???. These regional land characteristics were identified as potentially providing opportunity for biomass feedstock production that could compete with traditional agriculture commodity crops economically. The project researched establishment methods and costs for growing switchgrass on marginal agricultural lands to determine the economic and quantitative feasibility of switchgrass production for biomass energy purposes. The project was successful in identifying the best management and establishment practices for switchgrass in the Driftless Area, but also demonstrated that simple economic payback versus commodity crops could not be achieved at the time of the research. The project also analyzed the availability of woody biomass and production potential for growing woody biomass for large scale biomass energy production in the Driftless Area. Analysis determined that significant resources exist, but costs to harvest and deliver to the site were roughly 60% greater than that of natural gas at the time of the study. The project contributed significantly to identifying both production potential of biomass energy crops and existing feedstock availability in the Driftless Area. The project also analyzed the economic feasibility of dedicated energy crops in the Driftless Area. High commodity crop prices and land values coupled with low fossil fuel prices, particularly natural gas, hampered the likelihood of widespread production and/or utilization of for large scale heating or electrical generation at the time of the study.