[Gasification] Biomass heated ethanol plants

[CAVM at aol.com]

Boy you sure are asking a lot.  Let me simply the response though by  saying 
that kiln dried wood waste of various kinds cost about $18-25/ton plus  
freight.  As a dry commodity the shipping truck is filled with volume long  before 
it is filled with weight. It will have about 16-18,000,000 BTU/ton.   Roughly 
$1.00 per million BTU.
 
I don't know what you mean about hardwood forests lining the  waterways.  You 
may be thinking of Nebraska or South Dakota.   Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, 
Tennessee are reputed to have more forested land  now than when Daniel Boone 
first set foot here.
 
As for transportation costs, that would be about $50 per trucking hour for  a 
short haul such as from my site to the ethanol plant 10 miles away.   Figure 
one round trip per hour maybe.  $50 per 20 tons of fuel, or  320,000,000 BTU, 
for freight.  
 
For comparison sake, corn and corn stover have about 18-22,000,000 BTU per  
ton.  They would be dried on the vine, so to speak, and raked, baled and  
hauled from the field.  Keep in mind the required $30/ton FOB the field for  the 
farmer to engage in this exercise.  If these fields were likewise 10  miles from 
an ethanol plant, for agruement's sake, you would have $30/18,000,000  BTU = 
$1.66/mm BTU.
 
Compare either of these to natural gas or propane.  Of course biomass  
requires a one time combustion or gasification capital cost for equipment.   Like I 
said earlier, does this give anybody any ideas?
 
Neal
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Thanks,  Neal.

Could you please work backward from the gasifier and compare the  net heating
value (as delivered, with possible fiber water saturation) and  include all
associated costs among which transportation is likely  paramount. There's an
old saying in the Value Recovery industry: "You can't  put waste on wheels".

Having been raised in the Midwest and grown to  middle age in the Pacific
Northwest, it's very difficult for me to accept  the assertion that the
Midwest is, "...big timber country". Yes, I am aware  of the hardwood
"forests" that line waterways but in general, its hard to  see the forest for
the trees.

mark