Transport

Transportation methods and distances to the conversion plant have a strong impact on the final cost of the biomass fuel. Looking at woody biomass, forest resources are usually distributed over an area while conversion into commodities occurs at specific points. The required quantities and qualities of wood are accumulated and delivered to the points of demand. Since fuelwood is a relatively low-value commodity, transportation costs constitute a large part of the total production cost. Transport is thus a key element of forest activities, and the way that it is organized can have implications for the production system as a whole.

Liquid biofuels, such as biodiesel and bioethanol, and wet biomass such as animal slurries, can be stored in tanks and pumped from place to place through pipelines as for traditional oil products. Road, rail and sea transport is also possible using tankers mounted on truck decks, on trailers pulled by tractors or in oil tanker type vessels.

Efficient transport technology minimizes the cost of moving goods. When the commodity is biomass fuel, the transported product is actually energy. The goal should be to transport energy as efficiently as possible, which is not necessarily the same as optimizing transport of a physical load.

Transport of biogas		Transport of agricultural residues		Biodiesel transport truck in Kyoto, Japan