by Mahmood Ebadian (Biomass and Bioenergy Research Group/Biomass Supply Chain Consulting Ltd./Biofuels Digest) …With specialization occurring in feedstock engineering, these new business entities will be well-positioned to produce multiple products including both intermediate and final bio-products. In other words, they will be multi-product firms that exploit the economics of scope to produce multiple products for downstream markets. They can meet the demands of local, regional and also international markets by producing dense and uniform format drop-in feedstocks that can be handled and shipped by high-capacity transportation modes such as pipeline, railway and waterway.
This transition would open up opportunities to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the biomass supply chains.
…
Production of multiple drop-in feedstocks can also pave the way for the bio-processing facilities to introduce themselves as biorefineries that are capable of producing multiple bio-products such as green diesel, gasoline and aviation fuel. In addition, the existing oil refineries can also capitalize on this opportunity and produce green transportation fuels. The significant advantage of this business strategy is the low capital costs required by using the existing logistical, processing and distribution infrastructure in the oil industry. This business strategy, however, requires the production of intermediate products with consistent quality that can be dropped into this infrastructure with no/minimum modification. READ MORE