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incorporate harvested mallee as a feedstock will be important pre-cursors for the technologies for a larger scale industry. As the Industry expands, the most significant potential markets will probably involve emerging technologies such as liquid fuels via pyrolysis. On the basis of current information, this market is seen as offering good returns, with the technology being appropriate for major regional centres, thus managing transport costs. Initial processing and oil extraction would be undertaken at nodal points, with value added product forwarded to the major centres. Whilst co-firing of coal fired power stations with mallee is potentially a very large market which could nominally consume the entire projected annual harvest, the location of coal fired power stations relative to mallee production areas means that co-firing will not be a major market for the bulk of the projected industry, because of transport costs. Products such as metallurgical charcoal and bio-char are potentially significant products, but of lower value, and unlikely to drive major industry expansion unless costs of harvest and transport were significantly reduced relative to projected levels. The development of a long term viable project can be driven by actively targeting small but potentially highly profitable niche markets in the short term and supporting these to further develop the technology envisaged for a larger scale industry. Apart from local thermal and electricity, higher value uses of mallee will require significant transport and some storage. The leaf and twig material are of lower density and deteriorate more rapidly than chipped wood material. They are of some potential value for oil extraction and after oil extraction this material is of similar value to woodchip for many potential uses. A high level of extraction of leaf material is desirable to maximise the value of woodchip for a number of potential uses. Using current or envisaged technology, the product off the harvester would not meet envisaged standards for many applications because of the mix of components. A potential strategy for expanding the industry could comprise: • Harvest the mallee trees utilising short haul transport concepts to transport the product 20-30 km from farms to nodal processing sites. • The nodal processing sites would have the appropriate re-locatable or semi-mobile equipment to separate leaf, twig and bark material from the chipped wood. • The woodchip would be transported directly via rail or road to appropriate processing facilities such as synthetic diesel production. • Mallee oil would be extracted utilising relatively low technology steam extraction at the nodal processing site. The extracted leaf could be sun-dried utilising low tech strategies such as shallow bed drying. The dried leaf could then be utilised for a number of potential uses, including baling for lower cost of transport to higher value potential uses and local use for local thermal or electricity production. Preliminary analysis of potential mallee products, including the feedstock component, product value and extraction costs, suggests that fresh weight values in the order of $100/green tonne could be achievable for large scale oil extraction combined with metallurgical charcoal and synthesised diesel. Similarly for a limited local industry comprising oil extraction combined with local electricity and thermal heat, fresh weight tree value could be in the order of $185/green tonne. These costs do not include a processing profit margin. 177
This can be compared with harvest and haul costs (excluding contractor profits) of around $45/green tonne (based on small scale production of 15,000 tonnes/yr, low harvester performance, pour rates of 30tonnes/hr, and a 100km haul) and $28/green tonne (based on large scale production (145,000tonnes/yr and high harvester performance, pour rate of 50tonnes/hr, and a 100km haul). Stumpage charges for the grower to recover biomass production cost would need to be added and could vary from $15-$30/green tonne. Apart from continuing development of harvesting technology, the components in a model of a full scale industry must be further developed. This will involve further analysis of potential product streams and the opportunities for maximising the synergies from the production of different products. Whilst further development of the overall industry model is required, a number of enabling technologies will almost certainly be required to be developed and optimised. It is probable that the technologies will include: • Efficient separation of “ex harvester” product into components, primarily leaf, twig and bark from the woodchip component. • Efficient steam extraction of the leaf and twig components, versus the current strategies of whole tree product. This will be essential to reduce the energy consumption and cost associated with oil extraction. • Efficient drying and densification of leaf and twig material after oil extraction to maximise transport densities and minimise transport costs. • Automated combustion systems for mallee chip and densified leaf product. In addition to these basic components, it is essential that work continue on the “Big Picture” components of the potential industry, including gasification/pyrolysis for the potential production of liquid fuels. Industry and Business Structures Chapter 5 has outlined the various industry and business structures in the sugar industry. Organisational structures and how costs and profits are divided across the mallee biomass supply chain will be crucial to provide incentives for efficiency improvement. Within the sugar industry costs (e.g. harvesting) are generally averaged across participants and individuals are not always aware of their costs or rewarded for efficiency. The sugar industry has recognised that streamlining the value chain is essential to ensure optimal mill throughput and a reliable cane supply, and that sustainability will be improved by identifying and targeting real costs. Other mechanisms to ensure supply reliability have included long term contracts and performance based incentives. Harvest and transport represents 30% of costs within the sugar value chain and there are significant inefficiencies which are principally a result of divided responsibilities between the grower and the miller. The cost of harvesting is the grower’s responsibility while the cost of transport is the responsibility of the mill. Across some regions within the sugar industry a reduction in the number of harvesting operations and optimising existing groups are demonstrating some benefits. Institutional and regulatory arrangements have had a profound impact on development of the sugar supply chain. In particular, development of a cane payment formula that accounts for quality of cane delivered has been significant in improving supply chain performance. Pricing arrangements are now negotiated regionally based on an industry framework. In the mallee industry, particularly when there are multiple products and markets, appropriate payment mechanisms need to be considered. 178
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Sustainable Biomass Supply Chain fo
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Foreword This report provides an as
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include business development (new p
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Acknowledgments The authors would l
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4.1 Product Options and Supply Chai
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Table 4.2 Assessment of current val
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Figure 3.4 Tracked rigid self-prope
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Executive Summary What the report i
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• Biomass production potential of
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• As the Industry expands, the mo
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Harvesting, transport and storage s
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Biomass processing, supply chain pl
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Key barriers to biomass industries
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Crop-Biomass Production Production
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Figure 1.1 The cropping and pasture
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Table 1.1 Mallee species used for p
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1.1.4 Growth Cycle Mallee System Ma
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northern New South Wales (where it
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Almost 80% of the industry now cuts
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Bark has relatively high ash but as
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Carbon sinks Planting of mallees to
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Table 1.5(a) State Land area devote
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out the fluctuations in farm income
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Mallee system Most of the mallee bi
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inconclusive result may have been d
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For a sustainable woody crop indust
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changed significantly since they we
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Figure 2.2 Biosystems Engineering p
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Whole-of-crop harvesting represents
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During the last decade the harvesti
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single row, as this would improve t
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2.2.2.2 Weight Sugar System The Aus
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Table 2.1 Harvester Comparison Tabl
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The quality of cut may be less impo
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ate than a 170 tonne/ha crop of sta
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Dry Leaf 6.1 - 3.5 17.0 58.9 53.2 T
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Bulk density will be a key consider
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Table 2.4 EM levels in cane supply
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L/T L/T 60 0.97 0.71 80 0.92 0.66 1
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Total 7.5-26 16.5 Mallee System The
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• waiting for mill delivery of em
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perhaps at 10 - 20 km intervals. Th
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transport arrangements, harvest gro
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contractors and growers, and the fa
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experience of the sugar industry wi
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Table 2.11 Alternative harvest paym
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onto the harvester. BR+F still send
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Repairs and maintenance 2.10 Capita
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Figure 2.14 and Table 2.14 describe
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Sichter et al. (2005)), harvest and
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Transport efficiencies may be possi
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3. Transport and Storage Systems Tr
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same time, the potential problems o
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Figure 3.3 Articulated self-propell
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• The harvester will not have any
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Figure 3.7 Gross mass compared with
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external factors dramatically impac
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Figure 3.11 The effect of haulout t
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3.3 Road Transport 3.3.1 Configurat
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Figure 3.15 shows an example of the
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Road distance one way < 20 km 70 km
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Haul distance is largely outside th
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3.6 Recommendations The nature of t
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• The strategy offered lower tota
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sugarcane billets are such that wit
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• Transfer the whole tree product
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Figure 4.5(b) Energy balance of con
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2010). Table 4.2 presents a summary
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4.4.2 Activated charcoal Activated
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Nett Product Value ($/t) $475.00 $
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Table 4.9 presents an estimation of
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• Oil from leaf @ $2/kg • Synth
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• The mallee oil would be extract
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5. Industry and Business Structures
Page 149 and 150: is conducted into tariff levels on
Page 151 and 152: Bx is % brix in first expressed jui
Page 153 and 154: Hildebrand (2002) estimated that th
Page 155 and 156: also has a flow on effect to the sp
Page 157 and 158: Sugar Industry Illustrative Example
Page 159 and 160: with super size multi-lift bins ove
Page 161 and 162: farmer vs. harvester) is the next l
Page 163 and 164: 6. Supply Chain Planning and Manage
Page 165 and 166: Figure 6.1 Building blocks of the s
Page 167 and 168: weighed against the costs of operat
Page 169 and 170: • There is close contact between
Page 171 and 172: 6.4 Planning, Management Tools and
Page 173 and 174: • Harvest and transport logistics
Page 175 and 176: interface. The system allows users
Page 177 and 178: Case Study 6.2 - Model Application
Page 179 and 180: Relationships between sectors and p
Page 181 and 182: 7. Supply Chain Modelling and Econo
Page 183 and 184: It was assumed that there was a fif
Page 185 and 186: Table 7.2 Scenario two capital equi
Page 187 and 188: Table 7.4 Fuel burn rates harvester
Page 189 and 190: Figure 7.5 Effect of capital equipm
Page 191 and 192: Figure 7.7 Effect of annual tonnes
Page 193 and 194: 30 1.8 7.0 12.3 17.5 50 1.1 4.3 7.6
Page 195 and 196: 8. Conclusions and Recommendations
Page 197 and 198: Biomass bulk density has a large im
Page 199: Vehicles used for infield haulout w
Page 203 and 204: While diversification can add value
Page 205 and 206: Appendix 1: Comparative Assessment
Page 207 and 208: and transport conditions. Billet le
Page 209 and 210: that cane production is the most pr
Page 211 and 212: on sugar only, other proceeds (mola
Page 213 and 214: References Agnew, J 2002. A Partici
Page 215 and 216: Enecon 2001. Integrated Tree Proces
Page 217 and 218: Keating, BA, Antony, G, Brennan, LE
Page 219 and 220: Ridge, DR and Linedale, AL, 1997. T
Page 221: Willcox, T, Hussey, B, Chapple, D a
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