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Energies
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Bioenergy Supply and Demand, Logistics, and New Feedstock Crop Assessment
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Bioenergy Supply and Demand, Logistics, and New Feedstock Crop Assessment

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "A4: Bio-Energy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2021) | Viewed by 6831

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Kimberly L. Jensen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996-4518, USA
Interests: bioenergy; consumer demand; economics; feedstock; technology adoption
Prof. Dr. Burton C. English

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996-4518, USA
Interests: bioenergy; economics; feedstock; production; technologies; policy
Prof. Dr. T. Edward Yu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996-4518, USA
Interests: bioenergy; logistics; feedstock; transportation; economics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Growing interest in the replacement of conventional energy systems with those derived from bioenergy has emerged in the past few decades. The renewable share of final energy global consumption increased from 6.6% to more than 10% between 1990 and 2016 (IEA, 2020). In addition, the global consumption of biofuels (ethanol and biodiesel together) increased from 11.7 million metric tons (Mmt) in 1990 to 110.3 Mmt in 2016 (EIA, 2020), expanding nearly 9.5 times over a quarter century. In some cases, national or regional policy initiatives designed to foster bioenergy industry development have been implemented, such as energy standards, subsidies, or loan programs. However, developing a large-scale global commercial bioenergy sector still has many hurdles. Among these hurdles are the establishment of a secure, reliable, cost efficient, and sustainable complementary array of feedstock sources. In addition to cost efficient, environmentally sustainable, and reliably sourced feedstock, sufficient demand for bioenergy and conversion co-products is also influential in the development of a large-scale bioenergy sector. As bioenergy markets emerge, it will be important to understand the economics of the bioenergy supply chain and also the societal, market, food supply chain, and environmental impacts of bioenergy sector development at a regional, national, and/or global level. The overall objective of this Special Issue is to better understand the drivers of bioenergy supply and demand; the methods for the efficient storage, handling, and transport of bioenergy feedstock; and new crop impacts on the viability of bioenergy production. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Economic feasibility of bioenergy feedstock crop production, distribution, and marketing;
  • Economics of new feedstock crop storage, transport, and conversion;
  • Societal impact of policies promoting and regulating bioenergy;
  • Impact of bioenergy feedstock production on agricultural markets, including impacts on food crop and other agricultural commodity prices;
  • Consumers’ attitudes toward and preferences for bioenergy;
  • Economic evaluation of potential co-products from the bioenergy conversion process;
  • Bioenergy production’s potential impacts on the environment.

Prof. Dr. Kimberly L. Jensen
Prof. Dr. Burton C. English
Prof. Dr. T. Edward Yu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • bioenergy
  • feedstock
  • economic
  • feasibility
  • supply
  • demand
  • co-products

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 311 KiB  
Article
Optimal N Application Rates on Switchgrass for Producers and a Biorefinery
by Keven Alan Robertson, Burton C. English, Christopher D. Clark, Jada M. Thompson, Kimberly L. Jensen, Robert Jamey Menard and Nicole Labbé
Energies 2021, 14(23), 7912; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14237912 - 25 Nov 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1466
Abstract
This study analyzes the effects of N fertilizer application rates on profitability of growing switchgrass and using the feedstock in a pyrolysis biorefinery facility to create a source of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) supply in Tennessee. Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) is a [...] Read more.
This study analyzes the effects of N fertilizer application rates on profitability of growing switchgrass and using the feedstock in a pyrolysis biorefinery facility to create a source of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) supply in Tennessee. Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) is a perennial bunchgrass native to North America with traits suitable for biofuel and co-product production. Previous chemical analysis has shown that ash content in switchgrass is related to the amount of nitrogen applied to the field, while at the biorefinery level, the percentage ash content reduces the biorefinery fuel output. To obtain optimal nitrogen (N) application rates for the switchgrass producers and the biorefinery, a two-part analysis is employed. First, a partial budgeting profitability analysis is conducted for this cropping enterprise at the farm-gate level without considering downstream implications of biomass quality, i.e., ash content. Second, the effects of higher ash content as a percentage of the feedstock on biorefinery output are analyzed. Results show farm-gate profit is maximized when N fertilizer is applied at 111 kg/ha, while as a result of increased production levels and decreased percentage ash content, biorefinery profit is maximized when N is applied at 157 kg/ha. Lower ash could lead to premium prices paid to switchgrass producers if higher quality feedstock were to be demanded as part of an integrated biofuel industry. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioenergy Supply and Demand, Logistics, and New Feedstock Crop Assessment)
13 pages, 1801 KiB  
Article
Analyzing the Trade-Offs between Meeting Biorefinery Production Capacity and Feedstock Supply Cost: A Chance Constrained Approach
by Lixia H. Lambert, Eric A. DeVuyst, Burton C. English and Rodney Holcomb
Energies 2021, 14(16), 4763; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14164763 - 5 Aug 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1453
Abstract
Commercial-scale switchgrass production for cellulosic biofuel remains absent in U.S. A well-recognized difficulty is the steady provision of high-quality feedstock to biorefineries. Switchgrass yield is random due to weather and growing conditions, with low yields during establishment years. Meeting biorefinery production capacity requirements [...] Read more.
Commercial-scale switchgrass production for cellulosic biofuel remains absent in U.S. A well-recognized difficulty is the steady provision of high-quality feedstock to biorefineries. Switchgrass yield is random due to weather and growing conditions, with low yields during establishment years. Meeting biorefinery production capacity requirements 100% of the time or at any other frequency requires contracting sufficient amount of agricultural land areas to produce feedstock. Using chance-constrained programming, the trade-offs between the degree of certainty that refinery demand for feedstock and the cost of contracting production acreage is assessed. Varying the certainty from 60% to 95%, we find the costs of production, logistics and transportation ranged from 27% to 96% of the cost of 100% certainty. Investors and managers need to consider the cost of certainty of biomass acquisition when contracting for production acreage. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioenergy Supply and Demand, Logistics, and New Feedstock Crop Assessment)
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10 pages, 218 KiB  
Article
Simulating the Feasibility of Dual Use Switchgrass on Cow-Calf Operations
by Michael P. Popp, Amanda J. Ashworth and Charles P. West
Energies 2021, 14(9), 2422; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14092422 - 23 Apr 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1468
Abstract
Meeting biorefineries’ demands for lignocellulosic biomass will require sourcing feedstock without affecting the food or animal-feed supply. A decision-aid model can assess the dual use of switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) to maintain animal production while providing biomass. We simulated a mixed-farm operation [...] Read more.
Meeting biorefineries’ demands for lignocellulosic biomass will require sourcing feedstock without affecting the food or animal-feed supply. A decision-aid model can assess the dual use of switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) to maintain animal production while providing biomass. We simulated a mixed-farm operation with 156 ha of hay+pasture, 96 beef cows (Bos spp.), and poultry (Gallus gallus L.) production wherein the hay land was converted to switchgrass for dual use as biomass and forage. The cow-calf simulator tracked changes in forage and cattle production, economic returns, and net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Dual use of switchgrass consisted of harvesting the first cutting (mid-June) for hay and the second cutting (October-November) for biomass. Dual use required a modest increase in fertilizer application and supplementing cows with corn grain to meet nutritional requirements. Converting hay land to dual-use switchgrass produced 122 Mg of switchgrass, reduced net GHG emissions for autumn- and spring-calving operations by 3.4 and 3.6%, respectively, and increased the farm profit by approximately $1500 when priced at $50 Mg−1 regardless of the calving season. This simulation provided evidence that conversion of hay lands (in a beef cow-calf and poultry farm) to dual-use switchgrass can avoid displacing food production, while supplying bioenergy feedstock and reducing climate-forcing gases. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioenergy Supply and Demand, Logistics, and New Feedstock Crop Assessment)
16 pages, 1159 KiB  
Article
Farmer Interest in and Willingness to Grow Pennycress as an Energy Feedstock
by Xia Vivian Zhou, Kimberly L. Jensen, James A. Larson and Burton C. English
Energies 2021, 14(8), 2066; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14082066 - 8 Apr 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1911
Abstract
Pennycress can be used as a renewable biomass because its harvested seeds can be converted into biofuel, supplying, for example the aviation industry. Pennycress can be adopted as a winter cover crop to make extra profit in addition to summer cash crops. This [...] Read more.
Pennycress can be used as a renewable biomass because its harvested seeds can be converted into biofuel, supplying, for example the aviation industry. Pennycress can be adopted as a winter cover crop to make extra profit in addition to summer cash crops. This study ascertains influences on row crop farmers’ interest in growing pennycress to supply a biofuels industry. The study uses data from a survey of row-crop farmers in seven US states. Effects of farm and farmer attributes on acceptance of a farmgate pennycress price are measured. Nearly 58% were interested in growing pennycress if profitable. Among those interested, 54.4% would accept the farmgate pennycress price offered. Positive influences on interest included farm size, education, and familiarity with pennycress, while concern about knowledge on growing pennycress, and use of no-till practices had negative influences. Farmers aged 40 to 65 were more likely to accept the price, while share of rented hectares and no debt had positive influences. More risk-averse farmers and those using no-till were less likely to accept. Results suggest that the majority of row crop farmers would be interested in growing pennycress if profitable, while the overall willingness to accept the farmgate price was when it was at $0.28/kg. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioenergy Supply and Demand, Logistics, and New Feedstock Crop Assessment)
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