Biomass and Bioenergy 30 (2006) 321–325 Use of mobile fast pyrolysis plants to densify biomass and reduce biomass handling costs—A preliminary assessment Phillip C. Badger à , Peter Fransham Renewable Oil International s LLC, 3115 Northington Court, Florence, AL 35630, USA Received 11 June 2003; received in revised form 5 May 2004; accepted 1 July 2005 Available online 4 January 2006 Abstract ROI BioOil plants can be made modular and transportable, allowing them to be located close to the source of biomass and the subsequent transportation of high energy density BioOil to a central plant. Conversely, one central BioOil plant could supply several energy users in distributed locations, or several plants could supply numerous end-users, just as in the petroleum industry. Renewable Oil International s LLC (ROI) is one of several developers of fast pyrolysis technology. The production of BioOil can convert raw biomass into a low-viscosity liquid that, depending on the moisture content of the feedstock, increases the energy density of biomass by a factor of 6 to 7 times over green wood chips. The increase in energy density increases the amount of energy that can be hauled by standard tanker trucks versus a chip trailer van by a factor of two. Capital costs, exclusive of land costs, are comparable for a 50 MW e biomass handling system at the power plant. Land area requirements for fuel storage and handling are reduced roughly half for BioOil systems versus solid fuel handling systems. No analysis was made of operating and maintenance costs. r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: BioOil; Pyrolysis oils; Biomass transportation; Biomass densification; Biomass handling; Fast pyrolysis; Biomass hauling 1. Background The US Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management are responsible for maintaining forest health—including forest fire management—on lands owned by the US Government. In the last several decades, US Forest Service policy has been to extinguish all forest fires as soon as possible. In the 1990s it became obvious that the prevention of naturally occurring forest fires allowed the forest undergrowth to gradually build up, with the result an increase in the number and size of forest fires—particularly in the Western US. The National Fire Plan [1] was initiated in 2001 in response to the devastating fire season of 2000 and in August 2002 President Bush announced his Healthy Forests Initiative that identifies steps to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires and improve the health of the nation’s forests [2]. After the 2001 fire season, the US Forest Service switched to mechanical methods for clearing undergrowth. Based on open bids, the cost for mechanical removal in the Western US can range up to $2470 per hectare ($1000 per acre) [3]. In addition to the cost of removal, marketing of the harvested resource is difficult due to the distance to potential markets and the inherent cost of transporting and handling low-density materials. A significant portion of biomass feedstock costs— especially from forests—can be attributed to the ‘‘handling’’ associated with moving them from their point of production to their point of conversion or end-use [4]. Traditionally, handling includes harvesting, chipping, loading onto trucks, and transportation to their end-use point. Additionally, handling includes the operations at the end-use point including weighing, dumping, screening, grinding, storage, various conveying operations, and metering into the end- use system. Handling solid forms of biomass is expensive for a number of reasons including the number of operations required and the low bulk density of the feedstocks [5]. If solid forms of biomass could be converted into a liquid BioOil (pyrolysis oil), it would simplify handling trans- portation, storage, and use of biomass. Additionally, as ARTICLE IN PRESS www.elsevier.com/locate/biombioe 0961-9534/$ - see front matter r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.biombioe.2005.07.011 à Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 256 740 5634; fax: +1 256 740 5635. E-mail address: pbadger@renewableoil.com (P.C. Badger).