(90a) Sustainability of Biomass Crop Production

Woody biomass is renewable only if sustainable production is imposed. How to evaluate the benefit of different biomass crop species on a sustainability scale is a difficult task. Site dependence and regional diversity are the most important factors, while biomass productivity determines the viability and selection of a biorefinery facility. An optimum and sustainable biomass stand production rate is found to be one with the incremental growth rate at harvest equal to the average overall growth rate. Forest biomass is found to fevorable over algae and other higher cost crops.