Assessment of Conversion Technologies for Bioalcohol Fuel ...

SECTION 8 - OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FOR
ALCOHOL FUEL PRODUCTION FROM BIOMASS
Biomass Resource Potential
Candidate sources of cellulosic biomass for alcohol fuel production exist in many
different forms with a variety of origins. The specific sources, characteristics and
quantities of these biomass resources vary widely by geographic region. They are
generally grouped into three overall source categories: agricultural products and
residues, forestry materials and municipal solid wastes. Examples of biomass
materials in each of these categories are currently being pursued as potential
feedstocks for cellulosic alcohol production processes, as well as for a range of other
bioenergy and non-energy uses.
The disposal of waste biomass has become a major problem for the agriculture,
forestry and municipal sectors. These sectors have a keen interest in supporting the
development and implementation of technologies that will be able to convert these
waste materials to energy and fuels. As a result, a number of studies have been
completed on the quantification of these biomass resources. Most biomass resource
studies make a distinction between total estimable quantities of existing biomass
(waste and residual) materials and the quantities judged likely to be obtainable for
beneficial uses given various technical, economic and institutional constraints.
Typically, biomass wastes and residues are viewed currently as the best feedstocks
for bioenergy production, even though they may pose greater technical challenges that
the production of specific energy crops. Cultivated biomass crops, including numerous
agriculture, silviculture and aquaculture crop species, continue to be studied for their
longer-term and potentially greater resource potential.
U.S. Biomass Resources
The U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) have conducted or sponsored the most comprehensive studies of biomass
resource potential in the U.S. The latest, and perhaps most significant of these
studies, conducted under USDOE and USDA auspices by Oak Ridge National
Laboratory, is commonly refered to as the “Bilion Ton Study” (Perlack, 2005). As
implied by the title, this project set out to investigate whether the U.S. could produce
an annual supply of one billion tons of biomass, a quantity that has been equated with
potential bioenergy production equivalent to about 30 percent of current U.S.
petroleum consumption. This 30 percent petroleum reduction target was set forth by
the federal Biomass R&D Technical Advisory Committee, a panel of government and
private sector representatives established in 2000 by Congress to guide federal
biomass R&D activities. The Billion Ton Study assessed the overall potential for
bioenergy (and other bioproduct) production from biomass in the broad sense–
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