The economics of biomass production in the United States

Conference · Wed Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:115352

Graham, R L; Walsh, M E ^[1]; Lichtenberg, E ^[2]

---

1. Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
2. Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States); and others

Biomass crops (e.g. poplar, willow, switchgrass) could become important feedstocks for power, liquid fuel, and chemical production. With successful research programs that boost crop yields and develop appropriate power and chemical conversion technologies, biomass might compete with fossil fuels for a broad range of uses. Compared to fossil fuels, biomass feedstocks can offer significant environmental benefits. For example, biomass crops do not add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere during their life cycle. This paper presents estimates of the potential production of biomass in the United States under a range of assumptions. Estimates of potential biomass crop yields and production costs from the Department of Energy`s (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratories (ORNL) are combined with measures of land rents from USDA`s Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), to estimate a competitive supply of biomass wood and grass crops. Estimates are made for one potential biomass use--electric power production--where future costs of electricity production from competing fossil fuels set the demand price. The paper outlines the methodology used and limitations of the analysis. Currently, biomass-based electricity generation is a niche market where electricity is expensive and fuel is cheap or incurs a disposal cost, e.g. waste wood, sawdust, etc. However, if biomass production and usage systems demonstrate themselves to be workable at DOE`s projected costs,biomasss crops might become competitive for electricity production and other uses. Increases in fossil fuel prices, more rapid advances in gasification-gas turbine power generation technology, or rapid market development for biomass-based co-products such as pulp wood or chemicals could accelerate the production of biomass for electricity generation. Policies that discourage greenhouse gas emissions or encourage biomass production on idle land could also make biomass feedstocks more competitive with fossil fuels for a range of uses.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-84OR21400
• OSTI ID: 115352
• Report Number(s): NREL/CP--200-8098; CONF-9508104--; ON: DE95009230
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

09 BIOMASS FUELS
BIOMASS
COMPETITION
CROPS
CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
FEASIBILITY STUDIES
POWER GENERATION