In 2005, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released a groundbreaking report assessing the potential for the United States to annually grow, harvest, and collect one billion tons of biomass, including agricultural and forest resources and residues as well as other sources of waste.1 The report coincided with the adoption of several federal policies, such as the Renewable Fuel Standard and the Biorefinery Assistance Program, designed to rapidly develop advanced biofuels as a response to increasing reliance on foreign oil. DOE estimated that a billion tons of biomass could produce enough biofuels to displace 30% of then-current petroleum transportation fuel use. Production of renewable chemicals and biobased products were considered potential coproducts for biofuel biorefineries.<\/p>\n
Inherent in the original Billion Ton Report, as it is widely known, was an assumption that the new federal policies would successfully drive the emergence of the biorefining industry and advanced biofuels, creating sufficient market pull for the biomass. \u201cIf you build the biorefineries, the billion tons of biomass will come,\u201d the thinking went. Industry and policy makers quickly recognized that development of robust biomass supply chains and building and financing of biorefineries must proceed in lockstep.<\/p>\n
In a 2011 update to the Billion Ton Report, DOE added an evaluation of the economic feasibility of both collecting the billion tons of biomass and delivering it to biorefineries.2 The 2011 report estimated $60 per ton as the threshold price to encourage the harvest of biomass, with delivery to the biorefinery gate increasing the end cost. Importantly, policymakers and industry began to realize that renewable chemicals and other biobased products could be produced as standalone, cost-competitive products separate from biofuels.<\/p>\n
DOE has now issued a third assessment of the feasibility of growing and harvesting one billion tons of biomass and delivering it to biorefineries for biofuels and renewable chemicals production.3 The newest Billion Ton Report, released in June 2016, is an assessment of both progress to date and remaining challenges to building a biobased economy capable of making good economic use of available biomass. The report authors estimate that the United States currently uses 365 million dry tons of agricultural crops, forestry resources, and waste to generate biofuels, renewable chemicals, and other biobased materials. The authors also project that 325 million additional tons of agricultural residues and waste (which includes biogas production) could potentially be harvested and collected at $60 per ton, if biorefineries were built to make use of it. By 2040, potential additional biomass increases to more than 800 million tons, with 411 million tons coming from new energy crops and agricultural residues. The authors again acknowledge that delivery of the collected biomass to the biorefinery gate will increase the costs. At $84 per ton, the authors project that 45% (or 310 million tons) of the currently and potentially available biomass would be delivered to biorefineries, indicating that even higher prices are necessary to drive the evolution of commodity markets for new sources of biomass, such as energy crops and algae.<\/p>\n
The new biomass availability assessment is only the first half of this year’s report. Still to come is an evaluation of the policies and economic conditions needed to direct investment to the biobased economy and build the biorefineries that will utilize potential biomass resources. Biofuel and renewable chemical producers continue to face the challenges of minimizing risks for investors, remaining cost competitive in a new era of low oil prices, and certifying sustainability throughout the biobased value chain. Stability in the policies and programs that support building biorefineries and developing advanced biofuels is key.<\/p>\n
U.S. transportation fuel use (gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel) is once again approaching the peaks reached in 2007, as the country continues its slow economic recovery and oil prices remain low. The amount of gasoline the U.S. used in 2015 is nearly identical to the amount used in 2005, at 3.34 billion barrels.4 The difference is that nearly 10% of the 3.34 billion barrels of gasoline used in 2015 was renewable fuel.<\/p>\n
The past decade has demonstrated the unpredictable nature of oil production, supplies, and prices as well as the market influence of foreign producers. Experience has also demonstrated the need for stable policies that coordinate development of sustainable biomass supply chains and advanced biofuel and renewable chemical production technologies. The 2016 Billion Ton Report is a welcome and much needed tool to refocus policy makers on supporting the emergence of the biobased economy. In 2005, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released a groundbreaking report assessing the potential for the United States to annually grow, harvest, and collect one billion tons of biomass, including agricultural and forest resources and residues as well as other sources of waste.1 The report coincided with the adoption of several federal policies, such […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[5838,5842,12584],"supplier":[11236],"class_list":["post-37167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-bioeconomy","tag-biomass","tag-biorefineries","supplier-u-s-department-of-energy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37167\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37167"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=37167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nReferences
\n1. RD Perlack, LL Wright, AF Turhollow, et al. (2005) Biomass as feedstock for a bioenergy and bioproducts industry: The technical feasibility of a billion-ton annual supply. Oak Ridge, TN: Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Available at: www1.eere.energy.gov\/bioenergy\/pdfs\/final_billionton_vision_report2.pdf<\/a> (Last accessed July 2016).
\n2. U.S. Department of Energy. (2011). U.S. Billion-Ton Update: Biomass Supply for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry. Oak Ridge, TN: Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Available at: www1.eere.energy.gov\/bioenergy\/pdfs\/billion_ton_update.pdf<\/a> (Last accessed July 2016).
\n3. U.S. Department of Energy. (2016) 2016 Billion-Ton Report: Advancing Domestic Resources for a Thriving Bioeconomy, Volume 1: Economic Availability of Feedstocks. MH Langholtz, BJ Stokes, LM Eaton (leads). ORNL\/TM-2016\/160. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN.
\n4. U.S. Energy Information Administration. (2016, July 22). U.S. Product Supplied of Finished Motor Gasoline. Available at: www.eia.gov\/dnav\/pet\/hist\/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=MGFUPUS1&f=A<\/a> (Last accessed July 2016).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"