Highlights A comparison of truck and pipeline transportation costs of wastewater sludge. Pipeline is less expensive that truck transportation when the volume shipped is higher than 300m3/day. Transportation of sludge adds no more than $0.21/gallon to the unit delivery cost of biodiesel. The outcomes of this study help biorefineries with biomass transportation decisions.

    Abstract Domestic and industrial sludge generated at wastewater treatment facilities is considered a potential biomass source for producing biodiesel. However, transportation of large amounts of sludge from wastewater treatment facilities to a biorefinery is expensive. The objective of this paper is to identify the proper transportation mode to use as a function of the volume shipped and transportation distances. Currently, sludge is mainly shipped by truck and pipeline. We estimated that the fixed and variable cost components of pipeline transportation for a volume such as 480m3/day and a distance of 100miles are $0.116/m3 and $0.089/m3/mile, respectively. We estimated the biomass (sludge) transportation cost per gallon of biodiesel, and observed the changes in these costs as a function of distance traveled and volume shipped. The outcomes of this study have the potential to help biofuel plants make better biomass transportation decisions, and consequently reduce the price of biodiesel significantly.


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    Title :

    Truck versus pipeline transportation cost analysis of wastewater sludge




    Publication date :

    2015-02-02


    Size :

    17 pages




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English




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