US Christmas trees – a feedstock source for 56 Mgy renewable fuel: Biofuels Digest analysis

For years, Boy Scout troops have been selling Christmas trees and in recent years, have been offering recycling services, as a fundraiser.

Their recycling model? “Suggested donations” for pickup services ranging from $7 to $15 per tree in a  Digest scan of local troop programs. Typically, trees are chipped for mulch by a local Parks department.

A better model? Why not aggregate trees as a feedstock for fuel or power? There’s as much as 56 Mgy of potential renewable fuel wasted by mulching US Christmas trees, or 387 GWh of renewable power. The potential value to Scouting for aggregating Christmas trees. A cool, if theoretical, $22.5 million, at $40 per ton, plus the tipping fees.

Let’s look at the numbers:

In the US, there are 28.2 million Christmas trees sold per year, according to the US Christmas tree association. Average height, around six feet, and weight of around 40 (green pounds). Overall, 564,000 tons. At 100 gallons per ton — using Coskata yield ranges for wood gasification (but, to be conservative, not the higher ranges achieved in the lab by ZeaChem with poplar of 135 gallons per ton) — that gives us a 56 Mgy figure – enough to fuel a commercial scale cellulosic ethanol plant, power the cars of 57,000 households, and displace up to 448,000 tons of CO2e per year (at 16 pounds per gallon).

For Scouts, at $40 per ton, there’s $22.5 million just in the aggregation, and with suggested donations of $7-$15 per tree, ethere appears to be revenue in tree pickup.

Ethanol not your renewable energy of choice? Let’s look at the power side. In a co-firing system, we can expect 14,000-18,000 BTUs per KWh from burining wood biomass, and Christmas trees have around 5500 BTUs per green pound (allowing for wood, bark and needles). Total potential? 38.775 Gwh, or enough to power 34,000 homes per year according to the EIA.

For Scouting and renewable energy, Christmas time could indeed become “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.”

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