The Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) feedstock-conversion interface research and development (R&D) activities are coordinated through the Feedstock-Conversion Interface Consortium (FCIC). This consortium addresses challenges related to the behavior and performance of biomass in supply, preprocessing, and conversion process operations.
Science-Based Strategies for Feedstocks
The FCIC focuses on identifying key feedstock quality and operational factors and developing technologies and science-based strategies to:
- Quantify, understand, and manage variability in the targeted feedstock materials from field through preprocessing and downstream conversion, to understand how biomass composition, structure, and behavior impact system performance.
- Model the behavior and performance of selected feedstocks in gravity flow and conveyance operations during preprocessing operations and introduction into the conversion processes, based on the understanding of the fundamental characteristics of those materials.
- Develop and implement mitigation strategies into the processes of feedstock supply, preprocessing, and conversion and benchmark and verify performance in integrated operations.
- Analyze system-wide throughput to benchmark integrated system reliability, process economics, and environmental impacts and estimate how system reliability changes with the implementation of mitigation strategies.
- Control and optimize processes with in-line sensors and feedback control logic to monitor performance at critical points in the integrated systems and adjust throughput to achieve high levels of system reliability over time.
BETO's Feedstock Technologies supply and logistics R&D develops technologies with a vision to expand preprocessing operations to provide multiple high- and low-value feedstock streams. Image courtesy of Idaho National Laboratory.
Learn more about the FCIC.