Low Cost Biomass Saccharification Process for Processing Biofuels

Task 4.00 is the Techno-Economic Analysis component for a study titled "Low Cost Biomass Saccharification Process for Producing Biofuels. The objective of this task is to provide more accurate estimates of the economic viability of the costs of a commercial facility with data collected from the Pre-pilot process. Using the data collected from the Pre-pilot process a simulation model will be developed to analyze the economic viability of the process and to help direct the development of a commercialization plan. Key factors to be included in this simulation model are: feedstock costs, pretreatment costs, energy costs, operating costs, byproduct revenue and others as needed. Transportation costs are another key driver of costs that needs to be examined. Eastern Kentucky has been identified as a potential source of biomass and specifically reclaimed land could be used for its production. This would not only provide new opportunities for employment for the area and potentially new crops that can be used in the reclaiming these areas. However, for the purpose of this study it is important to build upon and utilize the LIDAR data that has already been collected and develop a transportation model to exam the cost of moving the biomass to processing facility.