A DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM TO AID IN PLANNING BIOMASS ENERGY DEVELOPMENT IN THE NORTHEAST

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: MCINTIRE-STENNIS
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 0232554
• Project Start Date: Jan 1, 2013
• Project End Date: Dec 31, 2017
• Program Code: [(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY
886 CHESTNUT RIDGE RD RM 202
MORGANTOWN,WV 26505-2742

Performing Department
Forestry

Non Technical Summary
Woody biomass is being examined as the potential main feedstock for a wide array of bioenergy projects due to the fact that it can be used as either a combustion fuel or as a feedstock for the development of liquid fuels, while simultaneously creating environmental and economic benefits for the region. However, the development of these bioenergy projects will be incumbent on the ability to source feedstocks at sufficient quantities and competitive prices. In the United States, it is estimated that there are potentially 43 million dry tons of biomass available at the price of $60/odt, and in the temperate forests which are located in the eastern and northwestern portions of the country, it is estimated that there is enough biomass available to produce approximately 16.07 EJ/yr or 15.3% of the nations energy needs(U.S. Department of Energy 2011, Hall 1997). Harvesting and transportation account for a majority of the delivered cost of woody biomass and are both affected by spatial factors such as terrain and spatial distribution. It is estimated that 35% to 50% of the total cost of producing energy from biomass is made up of the delivered cost of the feedstock (Sultana and Kumar 2011). While the quantity of woody biomass that is potentially available has been shown to be sufficient to warrant the discussion of the development of bioenergy projects, investment in further development of bioenergy projects will require that assessments of the resource be accomplished at a more localized scale. Three ongoing research projects in the Division of Forestry at West Virginia University are dealing with the technical and economic feasibility of utilizing woody biomass as a feedstock for energy generation. This proposed project would integrate the work that is being completed in to a decision support system for the analysis of bioenergy projects, specifically the tool will provide a framework that can be utilized to assess the local supply and costs of bioenergy feedstocks coming from various sources.

Animal Health Component

(N/A)

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

(N/A)

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
402	0650	2020	30%
601	0670	2080	30%
605	0699	2090	40%

Knowledge Area
601 - Economics of Agricultural Production and Farm Management; 605 - Natural Resource and Environmental Economics; 402 - Engineering Systems and Equipment;

Subject Of Investigation
0670 - Short rotation woody crops, including holiday trees; 0650 - Wood and wood products; 0699 - Trees, forests, and forest products, general;

Field Of Science
2090 - Statistics, econometrics, and biometrics; 2020 - Engineering; 2080 - Mathematics and computer sciences;

Keywords

woody biomass

harvest

logistics

system modeling

decision support system

simulation and optimization.

Goals / Objectives
The work that will be completed will focus on three areas: (1) harvest and logistics of woody biomass feedstock, (2) the environmental impacts associated with the harvest, collection, storage, transport and use of woody biomass for energy production and (3) the economic impacts of increased utilization of woody biomass for energy production. Each of the three areas will be used to develop a decision support tool, that uses multi-objective optimization to determine the best locations for energy facility development, based on the potential available supply of woody biomass and its cost, how utilizing the available biomass resource will impact the environment and potential economic and development implications. To determine the potential availability and cost of woody biomass, a model will be developed that utilizes spatial, terrain and production data as a way to estimate the recoverable quantity under different market conditions. Environmental impacts will be assessed through the use of a forest to production Life Cycle Analysis. This analysis will provide impacts to air, water and land; and will be able to be used as a point of comparison between biomass energy generating technologies and conventional energy systems. Economic impacts will be determined through the use of Input/Output modeling, which will be used to model not only the direct economic impacts of jobs created, economic output and payroll; but also the indirect and induced impacts. The combination of these three analyses will provide information, to prospective adopters of these renewable energy technologies, about three key issues that drive renewable energy projects

Project Methods
Analysis of Biomass Logistics and Supply Chains Biomass supply chains based for wood residues, and SRWC will be evaluated, with a focus on harvesting, collection, storage, transportation, and preprocessing activities. Wood residues will be evaluated based on the use of existing timber harvesting systems. SRWC harvesting will be evaluated based on a dedicated single-pass cut-and-chip harvester by Case New Holland in collaboration with the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. The information gathered on the different logistics systems will then be used to create logistical models, to determine optimal logistical decision making linked to feedstock requirements, collection, delivery, and production. The delivered cost of biomass will be determined through mathematical modeling. The mixed integer linear program developed by Wu et al. ( 2011a) will be modified to estimate the delivered cost of biomass feedstocks. Logistics challenges will be identified based on the facility (plant) location and freight distribution problems. Facility location, inventory levels, material management, and information systems and transportation will define the logistic boundaries. However, the conversion itself is the unit that will generate the freight that is transported between all the actors of a supply chain or distribution system. The production, freight distribution, and facility siting problems will be modeled mathematically considering all the factors associated with feedstock, supply/demand, harvesting/processing, and final products. A cradle to grave life-cycle analysis (LCA) will be performed for practical woody biomass utilization scenarios using mass and energy balances, and environmental impacts. A life cycle of woody biomass feedstocks for biofuels involves many aspects that must be related through feedstock development, harvesting and processing of biofuels, energy generation in various forms, emissions and their various implications, and final end of life and materials recycling of biofuels systems. An economic input-output (IO) analysis will determine the impact that increased biomass utilization will have on the multi-county regional economy. The IO analysis will focus not only on the direct production and utilization of bioenergy materials but also on how it affects associated industries. Alternative scenarios (assumptions) will be assessed to establish regional economic development impacts, including jobs, wages and incomes across all industries and in total.

Progress 01/01/13 to 12/31/17

Outputs
Target Audience:This project is focusing on the integrated analysis of economic benefit and its environmental impacts by the utilization of biomass. The analysis considers all the processes in the pathway, which includes biomass harvest, transportation, storage, process and conversion at facility. The final results are the analysis of a mathematical model and life cycle assessment based on the solutions from the model. So the target audience could be policy makers and venture capitals who are interested in the usage of biomass, and researchers working on biomass usage, logistics and LCA. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project has helped in the research training of three graduate research assistants. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results were disseminated through publishing peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, graduate student thesis, oral and poster presentations of academic conference. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Biomass is considered a carbon neutral energy resource. It is a preferred substitution to fossil energy resources to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions. Although the utilization of biomass presents a lower environmental burden, the handling cost of biomass is usually higher than fossil fuels. There appears to be a necessity to analyze the environmental and economic impacts of utilizing bioenergy crops for major possible pathways at a regional scale. Objective 1: Analysis of Biomass Logistics and Supply Chains A mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model was formulated with the objective to minimize the costs of delivering biomass feedstocks to the gate of a biomass energy facility. The decision variables included quantity of feedstock harvested and quantity of feedstock transported among harvest site, short-term storage, and location of bioenergy facility. The total delivered cost (ψ) that consists of the following cost components: biomass feedstock establishment (f), harvest (η), transport (τ) and storage (μ). The objective equation is shown below: Min ψ=f + η+ τ+ μ The objective function developed is subject to a series of material balance, resource availability and operational constraints. There is only one candidate location that can be used for a bioenergy processing facility within a certain procurement radius. No feedstock will be delivered to a location that is not open for bioenergy production. The amount of feedstock that is transported from a harvest area is less than or equal to the total available amount. The feedstock shipped to a location plus the storage from previous period equals to the amount of feedstock processed and in the storage. The total amount of feedstocks processed should not exceed the demand of a processing facility at a specific location. Objective 2: Life Cycle Analysis The system boundary of the cradle-to-grave LCA modelincluded land preparation, planting, harvesting, transportation, storage, preprocessing, bioproduct conversion, distribution, final usage and waste disposal. The environmental impacts were assessed in terms of the GHG emissions, blue water consumption, fossil fuel consumption and human health impact. The health impacts in this study included following aspects: carcinogenics, respiratory effects, ozone depletion and human toxicity.The data on biomass transportation were derived from the US LCI database provided by National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NETL) while energy and material usage at storage were based on the Emery and Mosier's results. The energy consumptions of preprocessing including grinding, drying, hammer milling were based on the measurements of the Idaho National Laboratory's (INL) Process Demonstration Unit (PDU). The energy for drying was provided by combustion of biomass. The percentage of feedstock needs to be processed in hammer mill usually depends on the required particle size. The LCA model was developed using the environmental modeling tool SimaPro v8.Together they accounted for over 80% of the total emissions for the production of biofuel or pellet fuel, and accounted for 30-60% of the total emissions for biopower generation.The production of pellets presented the lowest GHG emissions among the three bioenergy products, with an average emissions of less than 10 kg CO2eq per 1,000 MJ of pellets produced. Among the three feedstocks, using willow shrub for pellet fuel demonstrated the lowest emission at 4.84 kg CO2eq per 1,000 MJ.Differences of life cycle impacts were more significant among the three bioenergy products than among the three energy crops. The conversion rate was the most significant factor on the environmental impacts. The sensitivities of environmental impacts on crops yield, transportation distance and conversion rate were similar among all the three energy crops.? Objective 3: Economic Analysis Costs of feedstock development and harvesting the energy crops included the cost of machinery used for land preparation, planting, fertilizing, pesticide spraying and harvesting. These numbers were based on the settings by Duffy (2013) and Schweier and Becker (2012). The round-trip transportation of wood chips and bales were assumed to be $0.24 ton-1km-1(Kerstetter and Lyons 2001) in the base case. Storage cost of feedstock was assumed to be $5 dry ton-1. The capital cost, operational and maintenance cost of fast pyrolysis were based on the results of techno-economic analyses conducted by Wrightet al.(2010). An average cost of biomass fired power plant from IRENA's report (2012) was used as facility cost of producing biopower. A techno-economic analysis by Sultanaet al.(2010) provided the costs of operating a pellet facility. RSP at facility gate was calculated when internal rate of return was assumed 15%. The RSPs ranged from $130.79/bbl to $140.39/bbl for biofuel, $159.30/MWh to $172.28/MWh for biopower, and $130.14/ton to $156.95/ton for pellet fuel.Biopower presented higher RSP of $44.3/GJ-$47.9/GJ compared to $26.0/GJ-$27.9/GJ and $7.7/GJ-$9.2/GJ for biofuel and pellet fuel, respectively.Several factors affect the RSPs of bioenergy products including yield of energy crops, transportation distance of biomass, conversion rate, facility capacity and the required IRR.For the production of biofuel and biopower, the RSP was very sensitive to IRR and conversion rate, followed by transportation distance.The RSP was most sensitive to conversion rate and transportation distance for pellet fuel production.The effect of crop yield on RSP was more prominent for the production of pellet fuel than the production of biofuel and biopower.The effects of these factors on RSP were similar among energy crops. However, some differences could be detected among the crops. Discussion Operation and maintenance expenses consisted of up to 50% of the total cost, and were followed by transportation, feedstock planting and harvesting costs.Our study indicates that the price of pellet production could be lower due to more efficient feedstock logistics, and a lower capital investment for these facilities in the region. Most of the GHG emissions occurred in the "storage and preprocessing" and "production" phase at facility site. The change of GHG emissions among different bioenergy products could be mostly explained by the different procedures being used at the facilities. More energy was required to process Miscanthus than switchgrass and willow due to its properties which make it more recalcitrant than other crops. We found that most of the variations of LCA impacts could be explained by different processes involved in the production of three bioenergy products. Six factors had been analyzed to understand their effects on RSP. Sensitivity analyses on environmental impacts had been conducted by changing yield of energy crops, transportation distance and conversion rate. Prominent effects on environmental impacts were obtained by changing conversion rate.The environmental burden of biopower showed a high sensitivity to transportation distance of feedstock.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Liu, W. and J. Wang. 2016. Integrated Techno-Economic and Life Cycle Analyses of Biomass Utilization for Biofuels and Bioproducts. IN: Proceedings of the 59th SWST International Convention. March 6-11, 2016. Curitiba, Brazil.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Liu, W., J. Wang, T. Richard, D. Hartley, S. Spatari, and T. Volk. 2017. Economic and Life Cycle Assessments of Biomass Utilization for Bioenergy Products. Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining (2017). DOI: 10.1002/bbb.1770.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2017 Citation: Wang, Yuxi, Jingxin Wang, Damon S. Hartley,Jamie Schuler. "Optimization of multiple biomass feedstock harvest and logistics in the Northeastern United States."Energy.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Liu, Weiguo, Jingxin Wang, Tom L. Richard, Damon S. Hartley, Sabrina Spatari, and Timothy A. Volk. 2017a. Economic and Life Cycle Assessments of Biomass Utilization for Bioenergy Products. Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining.
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Liu, W. 2016. Economic and Environmental Analyses of Biomass Utilization for Bioenergy Products in the Northeastern United States. Ph.D. Dissertation. Division of Forestry and Natural Resources, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Hartley, D., J. Wang, 2014, Analysis of location factors for siting wood based bio-energy facilities using a spatial probit model, Advances in Materials Sciences and Engineering.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Vance, J., J. Wang, and X. Xie. 2017. Analysis of chipping operations and chip quality for bioproducts. IN: Proceedings of FORMEC 2017  Innovating the Competitive Edge: From Research to Impact in the Forest Value Chain. September 25-29, 2017. Brasov, Romania.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Liu, W. and J. Wang. 2015. Life cycle assessment and techno-economic analysis of energy crops utilization for biofuels in the northeastern United States. IN: Proceedings of the 2015 FORMEC Forest Engineering: Making a positive contribution. Linz, Austria. October 4-8, 2015.
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Hartley, D. 2014. Modeling and optimization of woody biomass harvest and logistics in the northeastern United States. Ph.D. Dissertation. Division of Forestry and Natural Resources, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia. 219pp.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Carrasco, J., G. Oporto., J. Zondlo, and J. Wang. 2014. Observed kinetic parameters during the torrefaction of red oak (Quercus rubra) in a pilot rotary kiln reactor. BioResources. 9(3): 5417-5437.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Schuler, J., S. Grushecky, and J. Wang. 2014. Establishing perennial seed-based energy crops on a reclaimed surface mine in the central Appalachians. IN: Proceedings of the 19th Central Hardwood Forest Conference, Morgantown, WV. March 26-28, 2014.
• Type: Book Chapters Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: DeVallance, D., T. Wang, X. Xie, J. Wang. 2014. Advancements in Wood Pretreatment for Bioenergy and Biofuel Applications. In: Practices and Perspectives in Sustainable Bioenergy: A Systems Thinking Approach. (M. Mitra, ed.), Springer.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Wang, J., R. Jackson, H. Ghadimi, W. Burnett, and K. Singh. 2014. Economic and environmental impacts of woody biomass utilization in the central Appalachian region. USDA NIFA Project Directors Meeting. October 29-31, 2014. Washington, DC. (Invited)
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Richard, T, T. Volk, L. Smart, J. Wang, B. Kinne. 2014. Northeastern Woody/Warm-season Biomass Consortium. USDA NIFA Project Directors Meeting. October 29-31, 2014. Washington, DC. (Invited)
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Wang, J. 2014. Biomass and fuels conversion. New Energy and Industrial Technology Development. US Department of Energy NETL and WVU Research Office, Morgantown. October 16-17, 2014. (Invited)
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Wang, J., D. DeVallance, and X. Xie. Biomass utilization for biofuels and bioproducts. National AFV Day Odyssey. West Virginia University National Research Center for Coal and Energy, Morgantown, WV. October 15, 2014.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Richard, T, T. Volk, L. Smart, J. Wang, B. Kinne. 2014. Northeastern Woody/Warm-season Biomass Consortium. US DOE Biomass 2014: Growing the future bioeconomy. July 29-30, 2014. Washington, DC.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Wang, J. 2014. Biomass energy and bioproducts. International Center for Ratten and Bamboo. Beijing, China. June 24, 2014. (invited)
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Hartley, D.S. and J. Wang. 2013. Impact of spatial distribution and terrain on the delivered cost of woody biomass feedstocks. 2013 ASABE International Meeting. July 21-24, 2013. Kansas City, Missouri.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Wang, J., J. McNeel, D. DeVallance, and X. Xie. 2014. Biofuels and Energy Efficient Bioproducts from Underutilized Woody Biomass. Industries of the Future Day at the Capitol. January 28-29, 2014. Charleston, WV.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Wang, J. 2014. Woody biomass utilization for bioenergy: Opportunities and challenges in biomass harvest and logistics in the northeastern US. IUFRO 2014 World Congress. Salt Lake City, UT USA, October 5-12, 2014.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Yu, Z., J. Wang, S. Liu. 2014. Snow Cover Variation Altered the Spatial Pattern of Carbon Emission in Northern Forests. IUFRO 2014 World Congress. Salt Lake City, UT USA, October 5-12, 2014.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Wang, J. and D. Hartley. 2014. Optimizing bioenergy supply chain configurations for the northeastern United States. The 5th Forest Engineering Conference and the 47th International Symposium on Forestry Mechanization. September 23-26, 2014. Gerardmer, France.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Wang, J. 2014. Appalachian hardwood sawmilling efficiency and log processing optimization. A workshop on promoting hardwood processing and economy. September 4, 2014. USDA Forest Service Wood Education Resource Center, Princeton, WV. (Invited)
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Hartley, D. and J. Wang. 2014. Biomass harvesting and logistics. Biomass Utilization for Green Materials and Energy Conference. September 2, 2014. Morgantown, WV. (invited)
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Liu, W., Wang, J., Cafferty, K.G., Spatari, S., Volk, T. 2014. A life cycle assessment of hybrid willow harvest and logistics in the Northeastern U.S. The 2014 NEWBio Annual Meeting. July 31  August 1, 2014. Geneva, NY.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Hartley, D. and J. Wang. 2014. Woody biomass harvesting and logistics modeling. The 2014 NEWBio Annual Meeting. July 31  August 1, 2014. Geneva, NY.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Hartley, D.S. and J. Wang. 2013. Modeling and Optimization of Woody Biomass Supply Chains in the Northeastern United States. 2013 Council on Forest Engineering Annual Meeting. July 7-10, 2013. Missoula, Montana.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Hartley, D.S. and J. Wang. 2013. Woody Biomass Supply Chains in the Northeastern United States: an Economic Analysis. 2013 Northeast Agricultural and Biological Engineering Conference. June 16-19, 2013. Altoona, Pennsylvania.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Hartley, D.S. and J. Wang. 2013. Economic Analysis of Woody Biomass Supply Chains in the Northeastern United States. 67th International Convention of the Forest Products Society and 57th International Convention of the Society of Wood Science and Technology. June 9-11, 2013. Austin, Texas.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Liu, Weiguo, Jingxin Wang, Debangsu Bhattacharyya, Yuan Jiang, and David DeVallance. 2017a. Economic and Environmental Analyses of Coal and Biomass to Liquid Fuels. Energy 141 (December):7686.

Progress 10/01/16 to 09/30/17

Outputs
Target Audience:This project is mainly focusing on the utilization of biomass, its economic benefit and environmental impacts. The utilization includes biomass harvest, transportation, storage, process. The final results are the analysis of a mathematical model and life cycle assessment based on the solutions from the model. So the target audience could be policy makers and venture capitals who are interested in the usage of biomass, and researchers working on biomass usage, logistics and LCA. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?One graduate student was involved in this project. The work in the past year was developing logistics modelsassociated with the utilization of mutiple biomass feedstock. In the past year, a great opportunity was provided to training the student's personal professional skills. The modeling development ability was improved by taking specific classes. Several professional conferences helped the student further improve the professional skills of original thought, presentation and communication. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Our models and findings have been discussed wtih professionals in the Northeast through the Northeast Woody/WarmSeason Biomass Consortium, and presented in MABEX conference. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? A mixed-integer linear programming model was developed to optimize the multiple biomass feedstock supply chains, including feedstock establishment, harvest, storage, transportation, and preprocessing. The model is to minimize the delivered cost of biomass from harvest sites to a potential biorefinery facility with constraints of feedstock availability, materials balance, and facility capacity. The model was applied for analyses of forest residue biomass and three energy crops of hybrid willow, miscanthus and switchgrss at county level among 13 states in the northeastern United States. With plant demand of 180,000 dry Mg/year of biomass, the delivered cost ranged from $64.96 /dry Mg to $108.09 /dry Mg with an average of $79.58 per dry Mg, and costcomponents of delivery cost were also analyzed. In regional analysis,the biomass delivery costs by county ranged from $68.60 to 175.72 per dry Mg across the northeastern U.S. Average delivery cost of forest residues is $81.78/dry Mg, followed with switchgrass as $84.56/dry Mg, and average delivery cost of willow and miscanthus were $95.90 and $115.08 per dry Mg, respectively. A sensitivity analysis was also conducted to evaluate the effect of feedstock availability, feedstock price, moisture content, procurement radius, and facility demand.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Liu, Weiguo, Jingxin Wang, Tom L. Richard, Damon S. Hartley, Sabrina Spatari, and Timothy A. Volk. 2017a. Economic and Life Cycle Assessments of Biomass Utilization for Bioenergy Products. Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2017 Citation: Wang, Yuxi, Jingxin Wang, Damon S. Hartley,Jamie Schuler. "Optimization of multiple biomass feedstock harvest and logistics in the Northeastern United States."Energy.

Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16

Outputs
Target Audience:This project isfocusing on the integrated analysis of economic benefit and its environmental impacts by the utilization of biomass. The analysis considers all the processes in the pathway, which includes biomass harvest, transportation, storage, process and conversion at facility. The final results are the analysis of a mathematical model and life cycle assessment based on the solutions from the model. So the target audience could be policy makers and venture capitals who are interested in the usage of biomass, and researchers working on biomass usage, logistics and LCA. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?One graduate student was involved in this project. The work in the past year was developing logistics models and LCA models associated with uncertainty analysis. In the past year, a great opportunity was provided to training the student's personal professional skills. The modeling development ability was improved by taking specific classes. Several professional conferences helped the student further improve the professional skills of original thought, presentation and communication. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Yes, our models and findings have been discussed wtih professionals in the Northeast through the Northeast Woody/Warm-Season Biomass Consortium. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The models have already been well developed and sensitivity analysis has been established with some effect fators. However, to furthervalidate the models, the project need to conduct the uncertainty analysis on more fators. Other thanthe different availability of biomass, transportation distance, type of biomass handling system, scale of facility, factors such asprice of fuels, price of biomass, timely factorsshould also be taken into cosideration. Those factors can have significant effect on cost of the whole chain as well as the final solution of the model. The uncertainty analysis for LCA model will be conducted with SimaPro 8 by Monte Carlo simulation of the uncertain factors. Energy efficiency is also an important parameter to determine whether the biomass utilization is feasible or not. We will also try to include 1-3 real cases in the study if possible.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The potential supply chain is being proposed, and in addition, processes for improving the transportation properties are considered along with storage to ensure that consistent supplies are available at all time periods. A MILP model was formulated to maximize the economic profit of delivering woody biomass feedstocks to the gate of a conversion facility. The optimal levels for the decision variables include quantity of feedstock harvested and the quantity of feedstock transported between harvest, processing, storage and conversion for each time period of the year, the location of storage, processing and conversion facilities.The final delivery cost of biomass was obtained by billion ton study and the logistics model developed for this project. Few different scenarios were considered by changing biomass price and capacity of facility. The forest-to-wheel life cycle assessment was eatablished, which includes feedstock collection, transportation, preprocessing and storage, conversion, distribution, final usage and waste disposal in terms of GHG emissions, water and fossil fuel consumption.The impact of GHGs was calculated using 100-year global warming potentials. The economic input/output LCA (EIO-LCA) model was also used to examine the processes based LCA model to estimate the overall environmental impacts of biomass utilization. Sensitivity analysis was also conducted to assess the effects of energy crop yield, transportation distance, conversion rate, facility capacity and internal rate of return (IRR) on the production of bioenergy products. Results showsthe RSP was very sensitive to IRR and conversion rate, followed by transportation distance. Andthe conversion rate was the most significant factor on the environmental impacts.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2016 Citation: Liu, W., J. Wang, T. Richard, D. Hartley, S. Spatari, T. Volk. 2015. Economic and Life Cycle Analyses of Biomass Utilization for Bioenergy and Products in the Northeastern United State. IN: Proceedings of Biofuels,Bioproducts & Biorefining,2016.
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Liu, W. 2016. Economic and Environmental Analyses of Biomass Utilization for Bioenergy Products in the Northeastern United States. Ph.D. Dissertation. Division of Forestry and Natural Resources, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Liu, W. and J. Wang. 2016. Integrated Techno-Economic and Life Cycle Analyses of Biomass Utilization for Biofuels and Bioproducts. IN: Proceedings of the 59th SWST International Convention. March 6-11, 2016. Curitiba, Brazil.

Progress 10/01/14 to 09/30/15

Outputs
Target Audience:This project is mainly focusing on the analysis of economic benefit and its environmental impacts by the utilization of biomass. The analysis considers all the processes in the pathway, which includes biomass harvest, transportation, storage, process and conversion at facility. The final results are the analysis of a mathematical model and life cycle assessment based on the solutions from the model. So the target audience could be policy makers and venture capitals who are interested in the usage of biomass, and researchers working on biomass usage, logistics and LCA. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?One graduate student was involved in this project. The work in the past year was developing logistics models and LCA models associated with the usage of biomass. In the past year, a great opportunity was provided to training the student's personal professional skills. The modeling development ability was improved by taking specific classes. Several professional conferences helped the student further improve the professional skills of original thought, presentation and communication. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The models have already been well developed and some results were obtained based on the model outputs. To validate the models, the project need to move forward to conduct the uncertainty analysis. The sensitive analysis can be based on the different availability of biomass, price of fuels, price of biomass, transportation distance, type of biomass handling system, scale of facility. Those factors can have significant effect on cost of the whole chain as well as the final solution of the model. The uncertainty analysis for LCA model will be conducted with SimaPro 8 by Monte Carlo simulation of the uncertain factors. Energy efficiency is also an important parameter to determine whether the biomass utilization is feasible or not. Besides this factor, transportation distance, scale of facility will also be studied.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Economic models to minimize the cost were developed for different biomass utilization pathways. These models considered the costs in harvest, transportation of raw materials, storage, transportation of stored materials, intermediate processing, transportation of processed material and conversion to final product. The possible pathways were biomass to ethanol, biomass to diesel, biomass to biopower, biomass to pellet fuel. All the possible pathways to utilize biomass were considered in the study. The forest biomass had 1-pass or 2-pass in harvest session, then chip, loose or bundle for in-site preprocess. Short rotation wood product had cut & chip, cut & extract or cut only in harvest session. Chip, loose or bundle was also eligible for in-site preprocess. Storage, process, offsite storage, plant site storage were following processes that would be used before the biomass finally was converted in plant. Transportation could happen between any two successive processes. The objective function was to minimize the cost. This was the total revenue subtracts the sum of the cost in harvest, transportation, storage, processing, final conversion. The constraints were included by considering the biomass availability, biomass handling system, storage system balance, woody biomass demand and number of facilities. The final solution of these model provided the optimal choice of the pathways. The LCA models were developed using the environmental analysis tool SimaPro 8 to study the environmental impact of biomass utilization. The model included the processes from biomass harvest at field to the conversion of biomass at facility. The environmental impact associated with the harvest, collection, storage, transport and use for energy production were different when the factors in the constraints change.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Liu, W. and J. Wang. 2015. Life cycle assessment and techno-economic analysis of energy crops utilization for biofuels in the northeastern United States. IN: Proceedings of the 2015 FORMEC Forest Engineering: Making a positive contribution. Linz, Austria. October 4-8, 2015.

Progress 10/01/13 to 09/30/14

Outputs
Target Audience: This project is mainly focusing on the utilization of biomass and its environmental impacts. The utilization includes biomass harvest, transportation, storage, process. The final results are the analysis of a mathematical model and life cycle assessment based on the solutions from the model. So the target audience could be policy makers and venture capitals who are interested in the usage of biomass, and researchers working on biomass usage, logistics and LCA. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Two graduate students were involved in this project. The work in the past year was developing a logistics model associated with the usage of biomass and a LCA model to analyze the environmental impacts by using biomass. In the past year, a great opportunity was provided to training the student’s personal professional skills. The modeling development ability was improved by taking specific classes. Several professional conferences helped the student further improve the professional skills of original thought, presentation and communication. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? After the model was developed, the project needs to move forward to conduct the sensitive analysis. The sensitive analysis can be based on the different availability of biomass, price of fuels, price of biomass, type of biomass handling system. Those factors can have significant effect on cost of the whole chain as well as the final solution of the model. The boundary of LCA will be defined for the life cycle assessment study. The LCA model will be developed with SimaPro 7.3 and the environmental impacts to air, water and soil can be provide according to the strategies from the model. Energy efficiency is also an important parameter to determine whether the biomass utilization is feasible or not. The total energy input can be calculated when conducting the LCA.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? A mathematical model to maximize profit in the biomass utilization processes was developed. This model considered the costs in harvest, transportation of raw materials, storage, transportation of stored materials, intermediate processing, transportation of processed material and conversion to final product. The possible pathways have multiple options. All the possible pathways to utilize biomass are considered in the study. The forest biomass has 1-pass or 2-pass in harvest session, then chip, loose or bundle for in-site preprocess. Short rotation wood product has cut & chip, cut & extract or cut only in harvest session. Chip, loose or bundle is also eligible for in-site preprocess. Storage, process, offsite storage, plant site storage are following processes that will be used before the biomass finally is converted in plant. Transportation can happen between any two successive processes. The objective function of this mathematic model is to maximize the profit. This is the total revenue subtracts the sum of the cost in harvest, transportation, storage, processing, final conversion. The constraints are included by considering the biomass availability, biomass handling system, storage system balance, woody biomass demand and number of facilities. Some preliminary applications were obtained which proved the good performance of the model. The final solution of this model will also provide the optimal choice of pathway. LCA study is conducted according the outputs from the mathematical model. The LCA model includes the biomass harvest, transportation, storage, preprocessing and final conversion. It is a cradle to gate analysis. The greenhouse gas emission, blue water consumption and fossil energy usage are considered as environmental impact categories. The results are also compared with petroleum derived diesel. The development of the model is very essential to let the project move forward. The future work, economic impacts, is all based on the strategies derived from this model. The environmental impacts associated with the harvest, collection, storage, transport and use for energy production will be different if the factors in the constraints change. The economic impacts will be benefited from optimally usage of biomass.

Publications

• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Hartley, D. 2014. Modeling and optimization of woody biomass harvest and logistics in the northeastern United States. Ph.D. Dissertation. Division of Forestry and Natural Resources, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia. 219 pp.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2014 Citation: Hartley, D., J. Wang, 2014, Analysis of location factors for siting wood based bio-energy facilities using a spatial probit model, Advances in Materials Sciences and Engineering.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Carrasco, J., G. Oporto., J. Zondlo, and J. Wang. 2014. Observed kinetic parameters during the torrefaction of red oak (Quercus rubra) in a pilot rotary kiln reactor. BioResources. 9(3): 5417-5437.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Schuler, J., S. Grushecky, and J. Wang. 2014. Establishing perennial seed-based energy crops on a reclaimed surface mine in the central Appalachians. IN: Proceedings of the 19th Central Hardwood Forest Conference, Morgantown, WV. March 26-28, 2014.
• Type: Book Chapters Status: Accepted Year Published: 2014 Citation: DeVallance, D., T. Wang, X. Xie, J. Wang. 2014. Advancements in Wood Pretreatment for Bioenergy and Biofuel Applications. In: Practices and Perspectives in Sustainable Bioenergy: A Systems Thinking Approach. (M. Mitra, ed.), Springer.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Wang, J., R. Jackson, H. Ghadimi, W. Burnett, and K. Singh. 2014. Economic and environmental impacts of woody biomass utilization in the central Appalachian region. USDA NIFA Project Directors Meeting. October 29-31, 2014. Washington, DC. (Invited)
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Richard, T, T. Volk, L. Smart, J. Wang, B. Kinne. 2014. Northeastern Woody/Warm-season Biomass Consortium. USDA NIFA Project Directors Meeting. October 29-31, 2014. Washington, DC. (Invited)
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Wang, J. 2014. Biomass and fuels conversion. New Energy and Industrial Technology Development. US Department of Energy NETL and WVU Research Office, Morgantown. October 16-17, 2014. (Invited)
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Wang, J., D. DeVallance, and X. Xie. Biomass utilization for biofuels and bioproducts. National AFV Day Odyssey. West Virginia University National Research Center for Coal and Energy, Morgantown, WV. October 15, 2014.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Wang, J., J. McNeel, D. DeVallance, and X. Xie. 2014. Biofuels and Energy Efficient Bioproducts from Underutilized Woody Biomass. Industries of the Future Day at the Capitol. January 28-29, 2014. Charleston, WV.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Wang, J. 2014. Woody biomass utilization for bioenergy: Opportunities and challenges in biomass harvest and logistics in the northeastern US. IUFRO 2014 World Congress. Salt Lake City, UT USA, October 5-12, 2014.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Wang, J. and D. Hartley. 2014. Optimizing bioenergy supply chain configurations for the northeastern United States. The 5th Forest Engineering Conference and the 47th International Symposium on Forestry Mechanization. September 23-26, 2014. Gerardmer, France.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Wang, J. 2014. Appalachian hardwood sawmilling efficiency and log processing optimization. A workshop on promoting hardwood processing and economy. September 4, 2014. USDA Forest Service Wood Education Resource Center, Princeton, WV. (Invited
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Hartley, D. and J. Wang. 2014. Biomass harvesting and logistics. Biomass Utilization for Green Materials and Energy Conference. September 2, 2014. Morgantown, WV. (invited)
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Liu, W., Wang, J., Cafferty, K.G., Spatari, S., Volk, T. 2014. A life cycle assessment of hybrid willow harvest and logistics in the Northeastern U.S. The 2014 NEWBio Annual Meeting. July 31  August 1, 2014. Geneva, NY.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Hartley, D. and J. Wang. 2014. Woody biomass harvesting and logistics modeling. The 2014 NEWBio Annual Meeting. July 31  August 1, 2014. Geneva, NY.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Yu, Z., J. Wang, S. Liu. 2014. Snow Cover Variation Altered the Spatial Pattern of Carbon Emission in Northern Forests. IUFRO 2014 World Congress. Salt Lake City, UT USA, October 5-12, 2014.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Richard, T, T. Volk, L. Smart, J. Wang, B. Kinne. 2014. Northeastern Woody/Warm-season Biomass Consortium. US DOE Biomass 2014: Growing the future bioeconomy. July 29-30, 2014. Washington, DC.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Wang, J. 2014. Biomass energy and bioproducts. International Center for Ratten and Bamboo. Beijing, China. June 24, 2014. (invited)

Progress 01/01/13 to 09/30/13

Outputs
Target Audience: This project is mainly focusing on the utilization of biomass and its environmental impacts. The utilization includes biomass harvest, transportation, storage, andprocessing. The final results are the analysis of a mathematical model and life cycle assessment based on the solutions from the model. So the target audience could be policy makers and venture capitals who are interested in the usage of biomass, and researchers working on biomass usage, logistics and LCA. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? One graduate student was involved in this project. The work in the past year was developing a logistics model associated with the usage of biomass. In the past year, a great opportunity was provided to training the student’s personal professional skills. The modeling development ability was improved by taking specific classes. Several professional conferences helped the student further improve the professional skills of original thought, presentation and communication. Those conferences were 2013 ASABE International Meeting, 2013 Council on Forest Engineering Annual Meeting, 2013 Northeast Agricultural and Biological Engineering Conference, 67th International Convention of the Forest Products Society and 57th International Convention of the Society of Wood Science and Technology. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Since the model has been developed, the project needs to move forward to conduct the sensitive analysis. The sensitive analysis can be based on the different availability of biomass, price of fuels, price of biomass, type of biomass handling system. Those factors can have significant effects on cost of the whole chain as well as the final solution of the model. The boundary of LCA will be defined for the life cycle assessment study. The LCA model will be developed with SimaPro 7.3 and the environmental impacts to air, water and soil can be provide according to the strategies from the model. Energy efficiency is also an important parameter to determine whether the biomass utilization is feasible or not. The total energy input can be calculated when conducting the LCA.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? A mathematical model to maximize the profit in the biomass utilization processes was developed. This model considered the costs in harvest, transportation of raw materials, storage, transportation of stored materials, intermediate processing, transportation of processed material and conversion to final product. The possible pathways have multiple options. All the possible pathways to utilize biomass are considered in the study. The forest biomass has 1-pass or 2-pass in harvest session, then chip, loose or bundle for in-site preprocess. Short rotation wood product has cut & chip, cut & extract or cut only in harvest session. Chip, loose or bundle is also eligible for in-site preprocess. Storage, process, offsite storage, plant site storage are following processes that will be used before the biomass finally is converted in plant. Transportation can happen between any two successive processes. The objective function of this mathematic model is to maximize the profit. This is the total revenue subtracts the sum of the cost in harvest, transportation, storage, processing, final conversion. The constraints are included by considering the biomass availability, biomass handling system, storage system balance, woody biomass demand and number of facilities. Some preliminary applications were obtained which proved the good performance of the model. The final solution of this model will also provide the optimal choice of pathway. The development of the model is very essential to let the project move forward. The future work, LCA study and economic impacts, is all based on the strategies derived from this model. The environmental impacts associated with the harvest, collection, storage, transport and use for energy production will be different if the factors in the constraints change. The economic impacts will be benefited from optimally usage of biomass.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2013 Citation: Hartley, D.S. and J. Wang. 2013. Impact of spatial distribution and terrain on the delivered cost of woody biomass feedstocks. 2013 ASABE International Meeting. July 21-24, 2013. Kansas City, Missouri.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2013 Citation: Hartley, D.S. and J. Wang. 2013. Modeling and Optimization of Woody Biomass Supply Chains in the Northeastern United States. 2013 Council on Forest Engineering Annual Meeting. July 7-10, 2013. Missoula, Montana.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2013 Citation: Hartley, D.S. and J. Wang. 2013. Woody Biomass Supply Chains in the Northeastern United States: an Economic Analysis. 2013 Northeast Agricultural and Biological Engineering Conference. June 16-19, 2013. Altoona, Pennsylvania.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2013 Citation: Hartley, D.S. and J. Wang. 2013. Economic Analysis of Woody Biomass Supply Chains in the Northeastern United States. 67th International Convention of the Forest Products Society and 57th International Convention of the Society of Wood Science and Technology. June 9-11, 2013. Austin, Texas.