Levelized life-cycle costs for four residue-collection systems and four gas-production systems

Technology characterizations and life-cycle costs were obtained for four residue-collection systems and four gas-production systems. All costs are in constant 1981 dollars. The residue-collection systems were cornstover collection, wheat-straw collection, soybean-residue collection, and wood chips from forest residue. The life-cycle costs ranged from $19/ton for cornstover collection to $56/ton for wood chips from forest residues. The gas-production systems were low-Btu gas from a farm-size gasifier, solar flash pyrolysis of biomass, methane from seaweed farms, and hydrogen production from bacteria. Life-cycle costs ranged from $3.3/10/sup 6/ Btu for solar flash pyrolysis of biomass to $9.6/10/sup 6/ Btu for hydrogen from bacteria. Sensitivity studies were also performed for each system. The sensitivity studies indicated that fertilizer replacement costs were the dominate costs for the farm-residue collection, while residue yield was most important for the wood residue. Feedstock costs were most important for the flash pyrolysis. Yields and capital costs are most important for the seaweed farm and the hydrogen from bacteria system.