Poster: Late and Moved Abstracts

Abs # 947: Genetic improvement of shrub willow (Salix) crops for bioenergy, biofuels, and bioproducts

Presenter:	Smart, Lawrence B., lbsmart@esf.edu
Authors	Smart, Lawrence B. (A)   Lin, Juan  (A)   Kopp, Richard F (A)   Phillips, Ingrid S (A)   Cameron, Kimberly D (A)   Volk, Timothy A (B)   Abrahamson, Lawrence P (A) (B)
Affiliations:	(A): Environmental and Forest Biology, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (B): Forest and Natural Resources Management, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Web Site:	http://www.esf.edu/efb/smart/

The domestication and development of fast-growing perennial plants as dedicated energy crops can provide a long-term, sustainable replacement for fossil fuels. Shrub willows, grown as short-rotation woody crops (SRWC), have outstanding potential to serve as a dedicated and custom-tailored feedstock for the production of bioenergy, biofuels, and bioproducts. A willow biomass crop enterprise will promote rural development, while providing numerous positive environmental benefits. Despite the wide array of benefits associated with growing shrub willows crops, their use as a dedicated biomass feedstock has not yet been widely adopted in the U.S. due to their cost of production. The main factors influencing the cost of SRWC are yield, harvesting expense, and establishment costs. A 20% increase in the yield of willow biomass crops decreases the delivered cost by 13%, and there is tremendous potential for significant improvement over the short term. The goals of this project are to reduce the costs of willow biomass by developing varieties with consistently greater yields and to identify varieties with optimal wood chemistry for low-input pretreatment, fractionation, and conversion in the biorefinery. Our objective is to demonstrate that improved shrub willow varieties are an effective feedstock for the production of bioenergy, biofuels, and bioproducts and can support a viable commercial enterprise in the Northeast and Midwest U.S.