The Potential of Woody Biomass for Bioenergy, Biofuels and Bioproducts
Dr. Timothy Volk, Senior Research Associate, State University of New York College of Environmental
Science and Forestry
ABSTRACT
The use of woody biomass as a feedstock for bioenergy and biofuels has a long history in the northeast
region and wood continues to be an important source of renewable energy in the United States. Interest
in the use of woody biomass for the production of bioenergy, biofuels and bioproducts has developed
rapidly in the past few years due to changes in the price of fossil fuels, concerns about energy security,
and growing pressure to address issues related to global climate change. Woody biomass can come from
a variety of sources including forests and short rotation woody crops, like shrub willow, grown on marginal
agricultural land. There is the potential to sustainably produce millions of tons of woody biomass in central
NY and convert this material into heat, power, biofuels and bioproducts, while providing an array of
environmental and economic development benefits in the region.
While research and development work on willow biomass crops has been occurring since the mid 1980s,
but there are several bottlenecks to the commercialization of this system. Significant progress has been
made in the past few years to overcome some of these hurdles including the development of a nursery to
produce commercial scale quantities of planting stock and a new harvesting system being developed in
conjunction with Case New Holland. Recently harvested trials indicate that new willow varieties have the
potential to produce significantly higher yields, which will reduce costs and help overcome economic
barriers. Willow biomass has been tested at a commercial scale in heating plants, co-fired with coal and in
CHP applications.
BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Timothy Volk is a senior research associate at SUNY ESF and has over 25 years of experience
working in the fields of forestry, agroforestry, short-rotation woody crops, bioenergy and phytoremediation
in the Northeastern United States and Africa. His research interests include the development of shrub
willow biomass cropping systems as a feedstock for bioproducts and bioenergy and the use of willow as
an alternative cover for industrial waste sites. He is also actively involved in research and development of
sustainability assessments of bioenergy systems, life cycle assessments of willow biomass crops,
assessments of woody biomass availability from natural forests, economic modeling of short rotation
woody crops, living snow fences, regional woody biomass resource supplies, and harvesting systems for
short rotation woody crops.