Cellulosic agricultural residue is a broad term used to discuss cellulose based residues left after the harvest of a primary agricultural crop. These include everything that we would traditionally think of, such as corn stover, wheat and rice straws, bean stubbles, and potentially even some cover crops. Additionally, residues can take the form of forestry waste, often called slash. Slash, or slashings, are the course woody material and treetops left over after debranching and sizing of harvested lumber. Basically, anything that cannot be sized or cut into a dimensional piece of lumber falls into this category. These residues are often considered a renewable source of cellulosic material because they can be harvested in a regular cycle, every year for traditional row crop residues, a little longer for forestry residues. Sustainable harvesting of this material can ensure many years of feedstock supply. Due to the nature of this material, it is important to have an end user within an efficient travel radius to minimize freight. Additionally, ensuring that quality materials, void of contaminants that could affect the process, is the goal.
Clients are often companies looking to capitalize on pockets of excess cellulosic material in their region. However, finding reliable expertise in these areas can be sometimes be challenging as these skills and experience are not always easily found. The expert should have a traditional background in both agriculture and forestry and be one with keen logistics to deal with the non-traditional nature of the transport, storage and use of these materials.
Large renewable energy and biochemical consulting firms like Lee Enterprises Consulting normally offer a wide range of services in biofuels, biochemicals, biotechnologies, biomaterials, synthetic biology commercialization, feedstocks, and hemp/cannabis. These companies should have business and financial services like due diligence, feedstock availability, grants and loans and bio market research. The company also offers technical and engineering related services like techno economic analysis, environmental evaluations, feasibility studies, risk analysis and expert witness engagements. They might also have strategic partnerships in place to assist clients with insurance, legal, accounting, plant fabrication, feedstock procurement.
With over 150 experts worldwide, Lee Enterprises Consulting has experts in many specific clean and renewable areas, including anaerobic digestion, fermentation, biomass, conversion technologies for things like tires and railroad ties, organic synthesis, fuel additives, ethanol gas, biodiesel fuel including algae biofuels, solid state and industrial fermentation, green energy grants, ag biotech, agricultural waste, alcohol fuels, alternative proteins and animal-free products, sustainable foods, beverage fermentation, biocatalysis, biodiesel conversion, biogas production, biomass power, carbon intensity, co2 utilization, combined heat & power, Fischer-Tropsch technology, food waste, hydrothermal carbonization, industrial enzymes, landfill management, microbial fermentation, organic synthesis, plastic pyrolysis, plastic recycling, plastic waste, pyrolysis oil, reactor design, renewable identification number, the Renewable Fuel Standard (rfs2), solid recovered fuels, torrefaction and torrefied biomass, waste to energy, and waste-to-hydrogen. This is a multidisciplinary group of green energy consultants that is a virtual “one stop shop” for any client need and handles projects of all types and sizes.
Look at our experts and the services we provide. Most of our experts are also available to advise and serve as expert witnesses in bioeconomy litigation matters. For the larger projects, we specialize in putting together full service, interdisciplinary teams with one point of contact. See video about LEC here. Call us at 1+ (501) 833-8511 or email us for more information.