Oil (stored solar energy) comes from a point source.Coal (stored solar energy) comes from a point source.Natural gas (stored solar energy) comes from a point source.Biomass (stored solar energy) is a distributed resource.

Do we know how to get biomass out of the field?

Grain

Annual U.S. corn harvest between 1998 and 2002 averaged 242 million metric tons.

Grain

• The Cargill plant at Blair, NB grinds 175,000 bu/day.• Each truck hauls 800 bu.

• Corn is collected from a 60 mile radius.• Depending on travel distance, a truck can make 3 trips

per day.

truck/day219 bu/day 800

bu/day 000,175

Cotton

Atlantic Gin, Emporia, VA

• 340 farmers• 2100 modules• 70-day ginning season

Is cotton biomass?Is cotton herbaceous biomass?Can I make fuel ethanol out of cotton?

Sugar CaneFlorida Crystals, South Bay, FL

• 3.6 million tons harvested and processed in 140 day season• 24/7 operation

How do they do it?

Sugar Cane

• Corporate agriculture– Production fields surrounding the plant are owned by

the company– Company owns harvesting and hauling equipment and

schedules these operations– Company owns roads through cane fields– Trucks can make 10 hauls per day

• Sugar mill burns waste wood during the off-season to generate electricity.

Comparison of Harvest Seasons

• Corn in Nebraska---------5 weeks• Cotton in Virginia----------7 weeks• Sugarcane in Florida---20 weeks• Bioenergy in the Southeast---47 weeks

Wood FuelPittsylvania Power Station

Hurt, VA

• Wood waste, whole-tree chips• 80 MW• 150 trucks per day

• Record: 311 trucks in one 24-h period

ton/day3,000 truck

ton20 x

day

trucks150

Wood Fuel

•Weigh load, unload, weigh empty: 10 min• At-plant storage pile, three-week supply in

summer, six-week supply in winter • At-plant storage pile, 10-day supply in

summer • Harvest season---50 weeks

Unloading 110 trucks per day.

Receiving facility is open 24/7.

Example of at-plant storage:This is the amount of material that is

stored on site to insure the plant does not have to shut down.

A cotton gin can shut down.A sugar mill cannot shut down.A power plant cannot shut down---when

the utility is demanding power.