The corn stover should be stored under the conditions of keeping its normal amount of moisture against rain and soaking from the ground, avoiding decay and ensuring protection against fire. The selection of a storage type will depend on location and local conditions. The corn stover can be stored in open storage, tarped storage, permanent structure storage or anaerobic storage[1]. Several factors should be considered when selecting appropriate storage systems: feedstock stability during storage, cost of storage infrastructure, accessibility of feedstock during the entire storage duration, integration of storage platform with processing plant.
The storage of biomass in permanent structures offers many advantages in comparison with other systems. However, due to relatively low density of corn stover, including bales, and high capital costs for new storages building the permanent storages are economically unfeasible. In the case, if stakeholder has permanent storages he can use them for corn stover.
The large square bales tarped storage costs are 3.1 EUR/ t d.m., which are lower than storage costs of round bales (5.0 EUR/t d.m.) and shredded corn stover (6.9 EUR/t d.m.).
Prepared by: Semen Drahniev – Member of the Expert Council of the Bioenergy Association of Ukraine for the platform of sustainable agribusiness SAF Ukraine.
Corn residues storage costs. Semen Drahniev. The platform of sustainable agribusiness SAF Ukraine. November 04, 2019.The Bioenergy Association of Ukraine since 2019 is a partner of the platform of sustainable agribusiness SAF Ukraine.