Biomass Supply Chain Logistics: Challenges and Technological Advancements

The consistent supply of high-quality and reliable quantities of lignocellulosic feedstocks to biorefineries is critical to the success of the biomass industry. However, biomass in its raw form does not have desirable properties for storage, feeding, handling, transportation, nor the desirable chemical composition consistency. The inherent within and between species heterogeneity of biomass makes these feedstocks complex and highly variable materials to manage through supply chains, and supply chain factors can amplify and/or mitigate biomass feedstock variability and material complexity. The various supply chain factors that impact biomass include feedstock production, harvesting and collection, preprocessing, and transportation. Biomass production impact factors include weather, soil, crop, agronomic practices, policies, and others. Biomass wastes, such as municipal solid waste, construction and demolition waste, and other wastes, are impacted by factors such as waste source, location, demographics, time of year, and day of the week. Harvest and collection include harvesting methods such as single- and multi-pass harvest for herbaceous and for woody biomass the operations include felling and forwarding/yarding. For waste, communities and other waste generators put waste into bins. Waste collection involves gathering waste materials from these bins, aggregating, and then consolidating the collected waste materials for transport. Storage and queuing of both produced and waste biomass are vital because they affect the quantities and quality of the biomass supplied to the biorefineries. Storage and queuing effects include the year-round availability of seasonal resources, losses caused by aerobic respiration (i.e., rotting), and changes in biomass chemical composition, ash, and moisture content. Preprocessing, which includes grinding, drying, densification, and material separations, can be carried out at refineries or depots, which helps supply a more consistent feedstock to the biorefineries in terms of particle size, shape, density, and chemical composition. Transportation and handling happen throughout the supply chain. Typically, transportation is carried using a truck, rail, ship, and/or pipeline. Handling can include any number of grabbing, lifting, and conveyance methods. Designing supply chain processes to manage biomass critical material attributes during supply chain unit operations is essential for biorefineries to operate at their designed capacities more reliably.