Logistics of harvest and transport crucial to biofuels

Southwest Farm Press
Dec 21, 2009 11:08 AM, By Ron Smith, Farm Press Editorial Staff
Third in a series.

Identifying and producing the right plant material for energy production is only part of a complex system that must be efficient if it aspires to play an integral role in the country’s biofuel industry.

Harvest, storage and transportation also play crucial roles, says Steve Searcy, professor and associate department head, biological and agricultural engineering at Texas A&M.

“Our approach is that every operation has to increase energy efficiency,” Searcy said during a bioenergy field day last summer at the College Station research farm. “We are studying the logistics from the field to the processing plant.”

Harvest, storage and transportation also play crucial roles.

He said solutions to some of the most pressing biofuels challenges will require new technology and that existing equipment for forage and silage may not be adequate. The ultimate machinery may be adaptations of what’s currently available or something scientists haven’t yet devised. He quoted Arthur C. Clarke to put the process into perspective. “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

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