On the challenges facing the handling of solid biomass feedstocks

With a major global emphasis on the management of waste, alternative resources and a shift to environmentally sustainable technologies, demand for large volumes of heterogeneous solid biomass feedstocks for energy or chemical use is expected to rise significantly. In transforming a sporadic supply of a low-value, highly variable product, to continuous and controlled high throughput systems, a thorough understanding of the feedstock properties will increase in importance. Appropriate characterisation tests are necessary to define technical specification and selection criteria for handling equipment and to appraise the requirement and location for additional processes or pre-treatment to be integrated into the handling chain. Such tests may also influence the material characteristics to be used in the conversion process. This paper discusses the main feedstock attributes associated with a number of handling chain phases and the approach to obtain them. The framework for a holistic approach to the characterisation and design of biomass feedstock handling systems for further development and practical implementation is also proposed.