Rural communities are often shut out from the socioeconomic benefits of biomass conversion, as forest residues in rural communities are often loose, wet, bulky, and too expensive to collect and transport to a centralized conversion facility. These residues are often generated during vegetation management or timber harvest designed to maintain forest health. The non-merchantable residues not only represent a $120 billion/year loss, but can also lead to significant air pollution, whether through open-air burning, or through fueling of catastrophic wildfires.

We are developing small-scale, low-cost, portable biomass systems that can latch onto the back of pick-up trucks to deploy to rural, hard-to-access communities, allowing localized conversion of residues into higher-value bioproducts and biofuels. In many cases, the resultant products have a local demand, thereby closing the local waste-to-value loop. In other cases, transporting the processed, densified residues can drastically reduce the logistical costs, by multiplying the amount and value of residues that can be loaded onto the same truckload compared to raw biomass.

We are working in conjunction with the Jackson Demonstration State Forest (JDSF) to study the feasibility of decentralized biomass conversion systems, and to deploy a prototype in close consultation with the local stakeholders. This will result in a portable system that can be brought to other forested landowners for subsequent demonstration. An education and outreach package suitable for rural communities will also be designed in collaboration with the local Cooperative Extension Officer.

Thengane, S. K., Kung, K., York, R., Sokhansanj, S., Lim, C. J., & Sanchez, D. L. (2020). Technoeconomic and emissions evaluation of mobile in-woods biochar production. Energy Conversion and Management, 223, 113305.