Biofuels, Bioenergy, and Bioproducts from Sustainable Agricultural and Forest Crops Proceedings of the Short Rotation Crops International Conference

Willow shrubs have several characteristics that make them an ideal feedstock for biofuels, bioproducts, and bioenergy. Th ey have been tested across the northeast and midwest United States and in Canada from Prince Edward Island to Alberta. Th e largest single cost factor for willow biomass crops is harvesting and transportation, which can account for up to 60 percent of the delivered cost of the biomass. Th e development of a cost-eff ective harvesting system that produces consistent sized chips has been a barrier to the deployment of willow biomass crops. SUNY's College of Environmental Science and Forestry has been working with Case New Holland and Cornell University for several years to develop an eff ective harvester system based on an FX-series New Holland forage harvester. A specially designed hydraulic driven willow cutting head manufactured by Coppice Resources Ltd. (CRL) in the United Kingdom has been fi tted to the forage harvester for harvesting willow biomass crops.