Challenges

Switchgrass harvest under ideal conditions in Tennessee during March. The push was to finish the harvest before fresh green switchgrass tillers emerged through the standing dry, brown switchgrass.

Overall challenges are to collect low-moisture switchgrass under real-world weather conditions, efficiently haul and transport bulk quantities to a depot storage site, effectively convey and reclaim bulk switchgrass to and from storage using automated conveyance and handling equipment, and to increase bulk density of switchgrass for increased distance trucking to a biorefinery. Specific challenges address the details of sizing equipment systems for required capacity within the constraints of weather and crop conditions, and the unique, dynamic interactions between the bulk-format switchgrass and handling-equipment systems.