STRATEGIES FOR THE SCALE-UP OF THE U.S. CELLULOSIC BIOFUELS INDUSTRY: INTEGRATED BIOREFINERY & BUYER-SUPPLIER RELATIONSHIPS

Open Access
- Author:
- Chen, Min
- Graduate Program:
- Biorenewable Systems
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- October 07, 2016
- Committee Members:
- Paul Michael Smith, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Paul Michael Smith, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Paul Heinz Heinemann, Committee Member
Evelyn Ann Thomchick, Committee Member
Matthew Logan Reimherr, Outside Member - Keywords:
- Biofuels
Cellulosic biofuels
Integrated cellulosic biorefinery
Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS)
Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS)
Coordinated Agricultural Projects (CAPs)
Buyer-supplier relationship - Abstract:
- The world’s growing population is demanding increasing energy and materials, currently dominated by non-renewable fossil fuels. The U.S. biofuels industry development is responding to consumer demand for environmentally-friendly products. A thorough review reveals that in the United States, corn-grain ethanol and biodiesel have served as the major alternatives for petroleum-based gasoline and diesel over the past few decades. However, first generation biofuels are often criticized on their implications on food price and land use change. Second generation (cellulosic) biofuels avoid the food-fuel controversy, but have yet to become widely commercialized. As a result, existing literature has signaled that the integrated production of cellulosic biofuel and bio-based chemicals is a potential strategy to provide financial incentives and competitive advantage to cellulosic biofuel biorefineries (BRs). Another strategy for cellulosic biofuel BRs to consider is to form relationships with downstream customers which may solidify the supply chain and bring stability to commercialization plans. However, no existing literature was found to quantitatively evaluate potential factors confronting the commercialization of the U.S. cellulosic biofuels industry and integrated cellulosic BRs/integrated production of both cellulosic biofuels and biochemicals. Also, less is known about the relationships between biofuel suppliers and their downstream customers. The present study was designed to bridge the gap in the literature to provide empirical evidence of 1) quantifying (rating and ranking) the importance/degree of drivers and barriers to the commercialization of the U.S. cellulosic biofuels industry and integrated cellulosic BRs and 2) examining the types of biofuel customers, identifying variables characterizing biofuel buyer-supplier relationships, and exploring strategies strengthening the relationships. This study’s online and paper-based surveys resulted in 228 or 34 percent of the 678 experts from seven USDA-National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Coordinated Agricultural Projects (CAPs) and two industrial conferences between July and November 2015 to address the first objective. Also, this study conducted in-depth personal interviews with three corn-grain and cellulosic ethanol producers from two industrial conferences between October and November 2015 to address the second objective.