SBIR Phase I: Reducing Diesel Fuel Consumption in Recovering Woody Biomass

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase 1 project develops a technology by which diesel fuel consumption can be significantly reduced while increasing productivity in recovering woody biomass. Diesel fuel is the number one operating cost of an industrial grinder and it is estimated that the diesel fuel consumed in processing the millions of tons of woody wastes each year in the United States alone is approximately 158 million gallons, with a cost to businesses valued at almost one half billion dollars. This Phase 1 research will field test the intermittent duty cycle of a diesel engine on a mobile industrial grinder and the data collected will then be analyzed to evaluate the technology for commercialization. The technology is expected to lower the cost of diesel fuel consumed per ton of woody resource material recovered. The broader impacts of this research are the conservation of in diesel fuel during biomass processing for bioenergy production. Secondly, with the increased productivity and fuel savings, companies would be more profitable, thus making a direct impact on the success of those businesses. Tax payers would benefit for those cities and counties who operate industrial grinders at their landfills. Thirdly, with increased capacity of the grinder fleets, more organic materials could be processed for use as bio-fuels. This will have applications in future markets such as boiler fuels, co-gen plants, cellulose ethanol and other bio-fuel markets. Finally, the technology once developed will be able to be applied to other markets where engines are operated in intermittent duty cycles.