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Logistics and handling

The logistics of energy crop production can be complex.  Harvest losses and storage and transport costs both have a significant role to play in the economic management of energy crops and must be considered at an early planing stage.  Optimising logistics can reduce costs in the region of 10 to 15% and significantly increase profitability. The energy crops biomass supply chain can be broken down in the following components:

• Cultivation of crops
• Harvest and baling or chipping
• Transport
• Further processing i.e. Gasification or pyrolysis
• Transport to End user – on site or exported

Harvest:

Optimum harvest operations need to take into account:

• Efficiency of harvesting operation
• Crop moisture content
• Ground conditions
• Potential end market

The efficiency of the harvesting operation is largely determined by the harvesting equipment used and the skills of the operator.  Crop moisture contents will affect the energy and financial value of the crop. The lower the moisture content of the crop at harvest the better.  Ground conditions will also affect the progress of harvest operations, working in wet conditions will make travel more difficult and lead to soil damage and possible contamination of the crop. form in which the crop is harvested also needs consideration as wood chip and bales have very different densities.  End markets have different requirements, for example a medium sized dedicated power station would accept the crop as harvested, whilst a co-firing power station may require the crop to be ground.  Pellets and wood chip are likely to be the requirements for the domestic market.

Storage:

Unless the crop is to be transported  whole direct to the end user at harvest, storage needs to be considered.  Storage in turn will affect the quality of the end product, moisture content in particular. The location of the storage facility will also have an effect on the transport economics.  The form in which the crop is stored will also affect future transport considerations and moisture contents.  Length of storage will also affect moisture content and quality of the harvested crop.  Various studies have looked at these consideration and as an example, a report on the “Optimisation of Miscanthus Harvesting and Storage Strategies” can be accessed here, as can one on wood chip storage. 

Transport:

The low bulk density of biomass and the number of lorry journeys needed, may make biomass fuelled plants unpopular. Many of the smaller rural roads of Wales may not be suitable for a large number of lorry movements. The siting of crops and fuel plants must take into account the need to keep to a minimum the increased traffic caused by fuel deliveries.  The number of deliveries for small scale heating projects or CHP plants require relatively few deliveries. As solid energy crop fuels are low density, the bulky commodities become less economically viable as a fuel option, the further they are transported. It is important to ensure that journey distances are minimised and for this reason power stations etc. stipulate that crops are grown within a certain radius of the plant (typically 50km). The environment costs of transport also need considering as it adds to the CO2 cost of production.  The bulk of CO2 emissions for biomass production occurs in the production and transport stages. Chapter 4 of the report “Biomass as a Renewable Energy Source” produced by the Royal Commission on environmental pollution covers these issues, together with transport, logistics and economics.  To access this of the report click here.