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Physical and Economic Aspects to Assessing Woody Biomass Availability for Bioenergy Production and Related Supply Constraints

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Handbook of Bioenergy

Part of the book series: Energy Systems ((ENERGY))

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Abstract

Questions related to energy supply, security, environmental sustainability, and possible alternative sources are of a growing concern due to population growth and increased energy demand. The main goal of this Chapter is to present different aspects related to the availability and recovery of woody biomass as a feedstock for bioenergy production in the southern United States. To facilitate growth of an emerging bioenergy industry it is important to identify feedstocks that are appropriate for bioenergy production. Common feedstocks include logging residues, small-diameter trees, mill waste, and urban wood waste. In addition, there are many factors affecting the estimation of woody biomass feedstock available for processing. They include the intensity and frequency of thinning operations, woody biomass accessibility and recovery, soil nutrient compensation as well as availability and type of existing forest inventory data. Other potential constraints that can affect utilization of woody biomass feedstocks for bioenergy include logging and transportation costs, landowner willingness to produce and sell woody biomass, feedstock storage issues, and mill processing capacity.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The tortuosity factor accounts for terrain effects. Grebner et al. (2010) defines it as the ratio of actual travel distance to line of sight distance.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mississippi State University, Starkville, USA

    Donald L. Grebner & Robert K. Grala

  2. Texas A&M Forest Service, College Station, Texas, USA

    Omkar Joshi

  3. Instituto Politécnico Nacional CIIDIR, Durango, Mexico

    Gustavo Perez-Verdin

Authors
  1. Donald L. Grebner
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  2. Robert K. Grala
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  3. Omkar Joshi
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  4. Gustavo Perez-Verdin
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Donald L. Grebner .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Industrial Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina, USA

    Sandra D. Eksioglu

  2. Division of Economics and Business Engineering Hall, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, USA

    Steffen Rebennack

  3. Industrial & Systems Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA

    Panos M. Pardalos

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Grebner, D.L., Grala, R.K., Joshi, O., Perez-Verdin, G. (2015). Physical and Economic Aspects to Assessing Woody Biomass Availability for Bioenergy Production and Related Supply Constraints. In: Eksioglu, S., Rebennack, S., Pardalos, P. (eds) Handbook of Bioenergy. Energy Systems. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20092-7_13

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