Harvest and densification of corn stover biomass

Harvest and transportation systems are a major portion in the development of a fuel and chemical industry based on the collection of agricultural residues. Predictions for the use of these renewable biomasses expect yearly demand to exceed 450 million dry Mg by the year 2020. However, to meet these goals new harvest and transportation systems are needed. An economic model was constructed to predict the influence on producer net profit for different harvest systems. The model shows that the best performing harvest system could harvest and transport corn stover for distances less than 35 km and still provide a net profit higher than harvesting corn grain alone. However, as shipping distance increases all the harvest systems in the model yield a net loss. Densification provides a potential means to reduce the shipping costs. The effect of applied load on density was measured using a Sintech test machine and the raw data points were used to determine the effect of the different treatments on the density and develop a model. Test treatments include the presence or absence of ear corn, high or low moisture level, and five cut lengths (12.7, 25.4, 50.8, 101.6, and 152.4 mm). The data was best fit to a power function and was analyzed to determine the statistical significance of the different model parameters. The analysis indicated that the moisture level, presence of ear corn and cut length all influence the model results