Can Kentucky Develop a 25 MTY Biomass Industry?

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

3. The Strategies and Goals • Strategy 2Increase 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 3Sustainably 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.

4. 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.

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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.

8. Kentucky Regions

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

10. 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.

11. Scenario 1: Existing ag production harvested for energy biomass.

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

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

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

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

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

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

18. 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.