Effect of Moisture Content on Lignocellulosic Power Generation: Energy, Economic and Environmental Impacts

The moisture content of biomass affects its processing for applications such as electricity or steam. In this study, the effects of variation in moisture content of banagrass and energycane was evaluated using techno-economic analysis and life-cycle assessments. A 25% loss of moisture was assumed as a variation that was achieved by field drying the biomass. Techno-economic analysis revealed that high moisture in the biomass was not economically feasible. Comparing banagrass with energycane, the latter was more economically feasible; thanks to the low moisture and ash content in energycane. About 32 GWh/year of electricity was produced by field drying 60,000 dry MT/year energycane. The investment for different scenarios ranged between $17 million and $22 million. Field-dried energycane was the only economically viable option that recovered the investment after 11 years of operation. This scenario was also more environmentally friendly, releasing 16-gCO2 equivalent/MJ of electricity produced.