Can Kentucky Develop a 25 MTY Biomass Industry? S.A. Shearer Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering University of Kentucky.

Can Kentucky Develop a 25 MTY Biomass Industry?

S.A. ShearerBiosystems and Agricultural Engineering

University of Kentucky

The Strategies and Goals• Strategy 2

Increase Kentucky’s use of renewable energyGoal: By 2025, Kentucky’s renewable energy generation will triple to provide the equivalent of 1,000 megawatts of clean energy while continuing to produce safe, abundant and affordable food, feed and fiber.

• Strategy 3 Sustainably grow Kentucky’s production of biofuelsGoal: By 2025, Kentucky will derive from biofuels 12 percent of its motor fuels demand, while continuing to produce safe, abundant and affordable food, feed and fiber.

Ground Rules• All biomass will be

reported on a dry weight basis – corn at 47.3 lb/bu (not 56 lb/bu) dry matter.

• Some ag residue must be left on field to protect soil.

• Dry weight of plant is about equal to weight of grain.

• Biomass energy content - 7,500 Btu/lb; Coal - 12,000 Btu/lb.

Biopower vs. Biofuel

• Electricity generated using biomass is by direct combustion using conventional boilers:– Boilers burn waste wood products– Coal-fired power plants also add biomass to their coal-

burning process (i.e., co-firing) to reduce the emissions• Biomass can also be gasified prior to combustion:

– Gases generally burn cleaner and more efficiently– Biomass can be used combined-cycle gas turbines (used in

the latest natural gas power plants)– Modular biomass gasification systems provide electricity for

isolated communities

Biopower vs. Biofuel

• Cellulosic ethanol is a biofuel produced from lignocellulose (structural material comprising much of the plant)– Ethanol from lignocellulose has the advantage of abundant

and diverse raw material– Greater processing to make the sugar available to

microorganisms for fermentation• Pyrolysis is the basis of several methods that are being

developed for producing fuel from biomass– Bio-oil, resembling light crude oil,can be produced by

hydrous pyrolysis from many kinds of feedstock

Perspective• Kentucky consumes 44 MTY of coal.• Kentucky has a land area of 25.4 M acres.• If we were to replace coal (12,000 Btu/lb) with

biomass (7,500 Btu/lb), we would need to harvest 2.8 T/ac of biomass every year from every acre in Kentucky.

Kentucky Regions

Cropland

Woodland Rangeland CRP TotalHarvested Pastured Other

West 2,899,629 734,671 493,870 1,101,705 471,144 348,264 6,049,284

Central 1,848,973 1,600,940 281,417 1,357,147 967,817 49,987 6,106,281

East 230,380 241,339 76,741 652,758 174,718 5,471 1,381,410

Total 4,978,983 2,576,950 852,031 3,111,610 1,613,678 403,724 13,536,975

Table 1. Available land resources (ac) on Kentucky farms1.1 http://www.nass.usda.gov/Census/Create_Census_US.jsp

Federal State Local Private2 Sum

West 186,112 71,999 13,116 1,426,166 1,697,392

Central 127,511 28,041 16,764 2,093,424 2,265,742

East 550,161 89,187 26,979 4,069,145 4,735,474

Sum 863,783 189,228 56,861 7,588,737 8,698,609

Table 2. Potential forest resources (ac) in Kentucky1.1 http://fiatools.fs.fed.us/fido/index.html- US Forest Service.

2Forest land not included in woodland category for farms.

Year Acres Yield (bu/ac) Yield (T/ac) MT

Corn 2009 1,130,000 146 - 3.90

Beans 2009 1,430,000 44 - 1.63

Small Grain 2008 460,000 71 - 0.85

Hay 2009 2,640,000 - 1.95 5.16

Total 11.54

Scenario 1: Existing ag production harvested for energy biomass.

Year Acres Yield (bu/ac) Yield (T/ac) MT

Corn 2009 1,130,000 146 1.73 1.95

Beans 2009 1,430,000 44 - -

Small Grain 2008 460,000 71 0.92 0.42

Hay 2009 2,640,000 - - -

Total 2.37

Scenario 2: One-half of ag residues harvested for energy biomass.

Year Acres Yield (T/ac) MT

Wood Waste 2005 11,810,000 0.18 2.09

Scenario 3: One-half of wood waste processed for energy biomass.

Year Acres Yield (T/ac) MT

Switchgrass 2005 683,000 6.0 4.10

Scenario 4: 10% of hay, pasture and range land sown to switchgrass.

Year Acres Yield (T/ac) MT

Miscanthus 2005 683,000 10.0 6.83

Scenario 5: 10% of hay, pasture and range land planted to miscanthus.

Year Acres Yield (T/ac/yr) MTDedicated

Woody Biomass Crops 2005 590,000 4.46 2.63

Scenario 6: 5% of forests and woodlands (farm) planted to dedicated woody

biomass crops.

Year Acres Yield (T/ac/yr) MTDedicated

Woody Biomass Crops 2005 315,000 2.23 0.702

Scenario 6: 50% of reclaimed mine lands planted to dedicated woody biomass

crops.

Summary

• Scenario 1 (convert food to fuel) not plausible.• Scenarios 2, 3, 4 or 5, 6 and 7 are possible and

will result in 11.9 MTY to 14.6 MTY of production per year.

• Can we reach 25 MTY? Will depend on the value of biomass and competing land use. KY does have the natural resources base.