ABSTRACT
Prior to investing hundreds of millions of dollars in a switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) biomass biorefi nery, due diligence would require a business plan that encompasses the complete chain from feedstock acquisition to the sales of products produced. These issues are only of importance if technology is developed to enable companies to profi t from procuring switchgrass biomass, converting it to one or more useful products, and selling these products. Technologies and systems will be required to enable processing of lignocellulosic biomass, including switchgrass biomass, into a product or a
1Department of Agricultural Economics, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA 74078. Email: f.epplin@okstate.edu 2Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Tennessee, 314B Morgan Hall, 2621 Morgan Circle, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA 37996. Email: agriff14@utk.edu 3The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, 2510 Sam Noble Parkway, Ardmore, Oklahoma, USA 73401. Email: mhaque@noble.org *Corresponding author
portfolio of products. One or more of these products must either be able to fulfi ll a unique niche of consumer demand or compete economically with existing products. If these biobased products include substitutes for fossil fuels, the potential market for cellulosic biomass could be very large. The potential market for switchgrass depends on its delivered cost relative to alternative feedstocks such as other dedicated energy crops, crop residues, or other sources of biomass. The purpose of this chapter is to identify practical issues related to the economics of developing switchgrass as a dedicated energy crop and to provide estimates of the price for delivered switchgrass biomass that would be required to compensate for the cost of inputs used to produce and deliver it to a biorefi nery.
