Bioslurry as a Fuel. 1. Viability of a Bioslurry-Based Bioenergy Supply Chain for Mallee Biomass in Western Australia

Abstract

This paper evaluates the economic feasibility of a bioenergy supply chain based on bioslurry (i.e., bio-oil/char slurry) for mallee biomass in Western Australia (WA). The bioslurry-based supply chain utilizes distributed pyrolysers within the biomass production area, converts the harvested green biomass into bioslurry fuels, and then delivers the bioslurry fuels to a central bioenergy plant. The results show that the overall economic feasibility of such a supply chain depends on the trade-off between the reduction in biomass transport cost and the increase in costs due to the introduction of distributed pyrolysers (including bioslurry preparation) and bioslurry transport. For a dedicated bioenergy plant situated within the biomass production area, a bioslurry-based supply chain is only competitive on a large scale (e.g., >1500 dry tonnes per day), and small bioenergy plants (e.g., < 500 dry tonnes per day) still favor a conventional biomass supply chain. However, a bioslurry-based supply chain offers sign...