Engineering Solutions for Biomass Feedstock Production

Lead Project PIs: K.C. Ting, Alan Hansen, Qin Zhang, Tony Grift, Lei Tian, Steven Eckhoff, and Luis Rodriguez
Lead Campus: University of Illinois

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES: Biomass feedstock production (BFP) is a critical subsystem within the overall bio-based energy production and utilization system. It provides necessary materials input to the conversion process of biomass into fuel, power, and value-added materials.  This subsystem includes the operations of agronomic production of energy crops and physical handling/delivery of biomass, as well as other enabling logistics. On the technical side, biological, physical, and chemical sciences need to be integrated with engineering and technology to ensure effective and efficient production of biomass feedstock. The entire bio-based energy system is understandably complex. The focus of this program will be on the engineering solutions for its subsystem of biomass feed stock production while keeping in mind its “external” interactions and influencing factors, such as social/economic considerations, environmental impact, and policy/regulatory issues.  Specifically, the scope of the subsystem is depicted by the solid boxes, oval, and lines in the following figure:

The overall objective of this program is to develop effective and efficient engineering solutions and machinery for successful production of biomass feedstock. This program objective will be accomplished through five interrelated tasks of (1) Pre-Harvest Crop Production, (2) Harvesting, (3) Transport, (4) Storage, and (5) Systems Informatics and Analysis.  For each task, systematic approaches will be taken to evaluate existing technologies, characterize task features, identify information needs and researchable questions, develop prototypes and computer models, conduct experiments and computer simulations, and analyze experimental data and simulation output. Results will be delivered in the forms of operational machinery design and prototypes, informational databases, and decision support tools.

Pre-Harvest Crop Production (Tian, Grift, Zhang) – Objectives: Develop optimized instrumentation and data processing systems for crop growth, health and stress monitoring; and algorithms for field operation scheduling. Research questions: (1) What are the major crop sensing needs for energy crop health monitoring and productivity improvement? (2) Which sensor/platform should be used for the field data collection? And, (3) what is the best process for energy crop data-to-knowledge conversion?   

Harvesting (Zhang, Tian) – Objectives: Develop sustainable and cost-effective processes and optimized equipment for harvesting and collecting biomass feedstock of both types (agronomic crop residuals and perennial grass straws) from the field.  Research questions: (1) What are the main obstacles in current processes and equipment that limit their application in biomass feedstock harvesting?   (2) What harvesting processes are capable of addressing these limitations?  (3) What functionalities should the harvesting equipment have for performing sustainable and cost-effective harvesting?

Transport (Grift, Hansen, Eckhoff) – Objectives:  Provide practical solutions to conveying biomass feedstock from the field to storage locations in sufficient quantities and at high enough delivery rates to sustain biomass-to-energy conversion facilities. Research questions: (1) What delivery rates, quantity, and quality of feedstock are required in order to sustain a biomass-to-energy conversion facility?  This research question will be addressed with input from the Systems Informatics and Analysis task group. (2)  What sustainable methods of conveying or transporting the biomass from field to storage or to biomass processing plant can be implemented that have sufficient capacity and rate of delivery, while maintaining quality as determined in (1)? (3)  What post-harvesting processes are necessary to facilitate the transport of the biomass via methods determined in (2)?  

Storage (Eckhoff, Ting, Zhang, Tian) – Objectives:  Develop guidelines for locating and sizing storage facilities, as well as storage and preservation methods that will provide adequate supply of high quality biomass to processing plants. Research questions:  (1) What storage capacity is required taking into account location, biomass consumption rate by energy production plant, and seasonal variation in biomass production?  (2)  What  storage and preservation methods such as ensiling, chemical preservation, drying, or freezing are suitable for BFP?  (3) What effect do moisture content, composition and quality of  biomass material have on storability? 

Systems Informatics and Analysis (Hansen, Ting, Rodriguez, Zhang) – Objectives: Integrate information and knowledge from various sources related to the BFP system in a real-time fashion, perform systems analysis, evaluate systems level performance, and deliver the results of analysis based on the most current information, also in a real-time fashion. Research questions:  (1) What systems integration platform is required in order to establish communication in a real-time fashion among the contributors and users of information?  (2) What systems analysis methodologies and computerized tools/user interfaces need to be developed for timely and wide implementation?

PERSONNEL: In addition to faculty investigators, seven post-doctoral researchers will participate in this program.

TIMETABLE: This program is being conducted by following a three-year rolling time frame.

COLLABORATION: This program team will proactively establish effective collaborations with other EBI researchers to achieve its stated goals. Of special relevance will be complementary research on crop production, economics, biomass utilization, and environmental impact assessment.