What are biofuels?
Biofuels are any fuel derived from biomass. Agricultural products specifically grown for conversion to biofuels include corn and soybeans. R&D is currently being conducted to improve the conversion of non-grain crops, such as switchgrass and a variety of woody crops, to biofuels.

The energy in biomass can be accessed by turning the raw materials of the feedstock, such as starch and cellulose, into a usable form. Transportation fuels are made from biomass through biochemical or thermochemical processes. Known as biofuels, these include ethanol, methanol, biodiesel, biocrude, and methane.

For more information, see the Office of the Biomass Program, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (PDF 513 KB), or the Alternative Fuels Data Center.

What are biobased products?
Today, petroleum is refined to make chemical feedstocks used in thousands of products. Many of these petroleum-based feedstocks could be replaced with value-added chemicals produced from biomass to then manufacture clothing, plastics, lubricants, and other products.

Biobased chemicals and materials are commercial or industrial products, other than food and feed, derived from biomass feedstocks. Biobased products include green chemicals, renewable plastics, natural fibers and natural structural materials. Many of these products can replace products and materials traditionally derived from petrochemicals, but new and improved processing technologies will be required.

For more information, see the Office of the Biomass Program.

What is biopower?
Biopower, or biomass power, is the use of biomass to generate electricity, or heat and steam required for the operation of a refinery. Biopower system technologies include direct-firing, cofiring, gasification, pyrolysis, and anaerobic digestion.

Most biopower plants use direct-fired systems. They burn biomass feedstocks directly to produce steam. This steam drives a turbine, which turns a generator that converts the power into electricity. In some biomass industries, the spent steam from the power plant is also used for manufacturing processes or to heat buildings. Such combined heat and power systems greatly increase overall energy efficiency. Paper mills, the largest current producers of biomass power, generate electricity or process heat as part of the process for recovering pulping chemicals.

Resource Assessment
The first step in developing a sustainable supply of biomass feedstock for the growing bioindustry is identifying the resources currently and potentially available for use in energy production, taking into account factors such as environmental impacts, competing uses for feedstocks, cost, and end use application. The joint USDA and DOE Billion Ton Study (PDF 5.6 MB) Download Adobe Reader provides an initial estimate of biomass resources currently and potentially available at the national level. The Biomass Program is now working with Program partners to update the Billion Ton Study to include regional and local levels of analysis. This effort will include an assessment of and coordination with similar work being conducted across the country by state and local groups; the development of regional and local biomass feedstock supply curves; and a ground-truth of the data by state and local organizations. A variety of factors will be considered to ensure that the feedstock potential is sustainable both environmentally and economically. The data collected during the feedstock resource assessment effort will be used in the development of a GIS-based feedstock "atlas" that will add a spatial capability to the resource assessment work.

Resource Development
After a sustainable biomass feedstock resource has been identified, the resource must be developed to its full potential in a manner that is sustainable and consistent with the requirements of the end user (i.e. conversion facility). The Biomass Program's resource development efforts include analysis of past and existing resource development efforts and establishment of new replicated field trials. Analysis of past and existing efforts will be used to determine the most successful crops and locations for field trials, as well as gaps that need to be addressed. They will also be used to develop an experimental design to serve as a protocol for the establishment of replicated field trials of dedicated energy crops. The field trials will be used to collect data on a variety of factors, including the impacts of agricultural residue removal from the field. Data and input for these efforts are partially collected through a series of Regional Feedstock Partnership workshops hosted in each Sun Grant Initiative region across the U.S. The information gathered through the Platform's Resource Development efforts will also be used to provide data for the GIS-based feedstock "atlas" described in the Resource Assessment section.

Sustainability
Sustainability is incorporated into all of the Biomass Program's Feedstock Production efforts. For example, the GIS-based feedstock "atlas" being developed as part of the Platform's Resource Assessment work will include a number of data layers meant to address the sustainability of an available resource, including soil quality data (such as soil carbon levels or soil bulk density), annual climate data (such as average temperature and precipitation), and production input data (such as fertilizer rates and water availability). The dedicated energy crop field trials being conducted as part of the Platform's Resource Development work will provide valuable information on the sustainability of specific energy crops by allowing project performers to collect information such as water requirements of a specific feedstock, invasiveness of a specific feedstock, or a feedstock's ability to fix nitrogen.

Printable Version

Sustainable Production
Sustainable feedstock production includes all of the steps required to produce biomass feedstocks to the point they are ready to be collected or harvested from the field or forest. These steps include plant breeding and genomics, crop selection, crop development, and ultimately crop production. USDA and the DOE Office of Science are primarily leading Federal research in these areas. DOE Biomass Program work in the area of Sustainable Feedstock Production is conducted in conjunction with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and through Regional Biomass Energy Feedstock Partnerships, led by the Sun Grant Initiative Universities. Work focuses on three main areas of R&D: Resource Assessment, Resource Development,

Feedstock Related Links
There are a variety of other resources available for information on biomass feedstocks. We have organized some of those resources into the following categories:

Other DOE Offices and Federal Agencies
Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science Biological and Environmental Research (BER) Biofuels Mission Focus
DOE Office of Science BER Bioenergy Research Centers
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) 2007 Farm Bill Energy Provision
USDA Agriculture Research Service (ARS) Bioenergy and Energy Alternatives National Program
USDA Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES)
USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) Bioenergy Economy Research
USDA Forest Service
USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS)
USDA Rural Development (RD) Energy Initiatives
Research Partners
Idaho National Laboratory Bioenergy Technology Research
Oak Ridge National Laboratory Biomass Research
Sun Grant Initiative Universities
USDA ARS Sustainability of Corn Stover Removal Project
Reports and Publications
Some of the following documents are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs. Download Adobe Reader

Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply (PDF 5.6 MB)
Breaking the Biological Barriers to Cellulosic Ethanol (Biomass to Biofuels Workshop Report) (PDF 5.9 MB)
Roadmap for Agriculture Biomass Feedstock Supply in the United States (PDF 18.9 MB)
Bioenergy Feedstock Information Network
"A Prairie Land's Companion" – Switchgrass article that appeared in the September 2007 issue of Agricultural Research magazine (USDA site)
"U.S. Ethanol Expansion Driving Changes Throughout the Agricultural Sector" – Article in USDA ERS Amber Waves September 2007 issue
Printable Version

Thermochemical Conversion
The Biomass Program conducts research on heat and pressure-based conversion of various biomass feedstocks to alcohol and hydrocarbon fuels, chemicals, and power. These conversion processes, including gasification and pyrolysis, are described in detail in the links on the left.

Thermochemical conversion is effectively applied to any biomass feedstocks.

Thermochemical processes also complement biochemical work by converting lignin-rich non-fermentable material left over from high-starch feedstocks conversion.

Thermochemical conversion will enhance fuel yields in integrated biorefineries by combining conversion types with heat and power efficiencies to produce fuel and products.

The Thermochemical Platform aims to efficiently produce biobased fuels and co-products via the processes described on the left. The platform aligns its R&D with the Program's goals according to the President's 20 in 10 initiative, which includes the use of stand-alone thermochemical conversion, and integrating efficient, complementary thermochemical conversion technology into a model biorefinery.

Feedstocks for thermochemical processes include a wide variety of biomass types with little to no restrictions on physical or chemical properties. Moisture and particle size are specified for the respective conversion processes.

Printable Version

Integrated Biorefineries
Biorefineries are similar to petroleum refineries in concept; however, biorefineries use biological matter (as opposed to petroleum or other fossil sources) to produce transportation fuels, chemicals, and heat and power. Integrated biorefineries employ various combinations of feedstocks and conversion technologies to produce a variety of products, with the main focus on producing biofuels – and side products being chemicals (or other materials),and/or heat and power. The renewable feedstocks utilized in integrated biorefineries include, but are not limited to: grain such as corn, wheat sorghum, and barley; energy crops such as switchgrass, miscanthus, willow and poplar; and agricultural, forest, and industrial residues such as bagasse, stover, straws, forest thinnings, sawdust and paper mill waste.


The benefits of an integrated biorefinery are numerous because of the diversification in feedstocks and products. There are currently several different levels of integration in biorefineries which adds to their sustainability, both economically and environmentally. For example, some biorefinery concepts solely produce ethanol or biodiesel, whereas other concepts fully incorporate livestock farming or heat and power and other biobased products. Most of these refineries are nearly self-sustaining in respect to energy consumption. Continued developments in the areas of feedstocks, and conversion processes (both biochemical and thermochemical) enables more economical and environmentally sustainable options for integrated biorefineries. This also allows for biorefineries to spread into a wider geographical region of the United States.

Economic and production advantages increase with the level of integration in the biorefinery. This is why the Biomass Program is focused on developing and deploying technologies that can be bundled to enable and define integrated biorefinery facilities.

Printable Version

[hungry]

Ron
You are on a roll,keep it up,
Paul

[2doubledown]

Originally Posted by GeoMoney

Todays dreams include SSTP and USSE on a huge email and online advertising campaign! Will my Dreams and Hopes come true?

I agree, only if it is not a spam on old news. Don't need to feed into the flippers. Absolutely need to bring in new " long term investors".

A news and e-mail campaign highlighting new results, partners, contracts, etc. would be great.

An advertising campaign offering to sell our new green products would be outstanding !!