Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Infrastructure
From field to final consumption, the economic feasibility and sustainability of alternative fuels is enhanced, and in some cases, even determined by the transportation infrastructure—roads, warehouses, rail—and accompanying economies. WSU Professors Ken Casavant and Eric Jessup focus their research in the School of Economic Sciences on the transportation and logistics of delivering biofuels and other bioproducts to consumers. “That is the underlying key through which each of the segments of the supply chain system is connected and a sustainable industry is achieved,” said Casavant.
Casavant noted that where and how much it costs to store and transport the raw beginnings of bioproducts could be the “deal breaker” in determining ultimate economic feasibility, especially for some feedstock. “If available, it is the internal economies of size and scale and the external economies of market density and agglomeration that will help to shape the system into the most cost-efficient, feasible, and sustainable biofuels system for the future,” Casavant said.
- Feed the World, Power the Planet
- Laying the Foundation for Change
- Feedstock System Development
- Processing and Conversion
- Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Infrastructure
- End-Use Markets