July 2004 • NREL/SR-510-36403 

Gridley Ethanol Demonstration 

Project Utilizing Gasification 

Technology: Feedstock Supply 

Plan 

March 15, 2004 

TSS Consultants 

Rancho Cordova, California 

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

1617 Cole Boulevard, Golden, Colorado 80401-3393 

303-275-3000 • www.nrel.gov 

Operated for the U.S. Department of Energy 

Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy 

by Midwest Research Institute • Battelle 

Contract No. DE-AC36-99-GO10337 
July 2004 • NREL/SR-510-36403 

Gridley Ethanol Demonstration 

Project Utilizing Gasification 

Technology: Feedstock Supply 

Plan 

March 15, 2004 

TSS Consultants 

Rancho Cordova, California 

NREL Technical Monitor: M. Ruth 

Prepared under Subcontract No. ZCO-2-32065-01 

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

1617 Cole Boulevard, Golden, Colorado 80401-3393 

303-275-3000 • www.nrel.gov 

Operated for the U.S. Department of Energy 

Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy 

by Midwest Research Institute • Battelle 

Contract No. DE-AC36-99-GO10337 
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TABLE OF CONTENTS 

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY......................................................................................... 1

2. FEEDSTOCK SUPPLY PLAN PURPOSE & APPROACH...... 3

3. BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................... 4

3.1 Rice Straw Burning Reduction Act of 1991 .................................................................................... 4

3.2 The Proposed Gridley Ethanol Project .......................................................................................... 4

3.2.1. Gridley Ethanol Project Objectives: ......................................................................................... 5

3.2.2. Project Benefits ......................................................................................................................... 5

4. RICE STRAW FEEDSTOCK AVAILABILITY...................................... 6

4.1. Current Supply ............................................................................................................................. 6

4. 2. Trends and Projections ............................................................................................................. 10

4. 3. Collection, Processing and Transportation of Rice Straw ........................................................ 10

4. 4. Economics of rice straw collection and transportation............................................................. 18

4. 5. Technical Barriers to Rice Straw Collection............................................................................. 21

4. 6. Incentives for Increased Utilization of Rice Straw .................................................................... 22

4. 7. Competition for Rice Straw ....................................................................................................... 23

4. 8. Avoided Grower Disposal Costs ............................................................................................... 23

4. 9. Feedstock Storage and Management......................................................................................... 24

5. CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................. 25

iii 
GRIDLEY ETHANOL DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM 

FEEDSTOCK SUPPLY PLAN

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

• Purpose of this Report 

This Report is in response to Task 1 of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory 

(NREL) Subcontract No. ZCO-2-32065-01, requiring an updated assessment of the rice 

straw available for the proposed Gridley Project. The report describes a Feedstock 

Supply Plan for the proposed Gridley Ethanol Demonstration Project to be located in 

the City of Gridley Industrial Park in Gridley, California. This report also includes 

information on the establishment of the required infrastructure required for collecting 

approximately 113,000 Bone Dry Tons (BDT) annually for the proposed facility. 

• Description of the Gridley Ethanol Project Feedstock Requirement 

Using the Pearson Technology from Aberdeen, Mississippi, and the related 

engineering assumptions for required feedstock, it is estimated that the proposed 

Gridley Ethanol Project will use approximately 113,000 BDT of rice straw to produce 

approximately up to 20 million gallons of ethanol annually, and/or process steam and 

or electricity. 

• Rice Straw Burning Reduction Act 

Approximately 500,000 acres of rice are harvested annually in California, resulting in 

approximately 1 million dry tons of rice straw that is available to be collected each 

year. Beginning in 2001, the phase-down of rice straw burning limits acreage burned 

to 25 percent of the total acres planted or 125,000 acres, whichever is less. However, 

this burning can occur only for disease control purposes. Growers unable to use this 

disposal method must either incorporate the remaining rice straw back into the field 

or remove it completely. Last year, because of other regulations limiting agriculture 

residue burning, rice growers burned approximately 15% of the planted acreages. 

• Report Findings 

1. Feedstock Availability 

Based on TSS’s survey of planted rice acreage in the Sacramento Valley, a 

total of 379,765 acres of rice are grown within a 30-mile radius of the Gridley 

site and that 759,530 BDT of recoverable rice straw are generated annually. 

This volume of rice straw is 6.7 times the 113,000 BDT of total feedstock 

needed by the proposed Gridley facility. 

1
2. Collection Infrastructure 

Sufficient infrastructure exists with additional market potential for further 

private market infrastructure expansion in California and the Northwest 

(Oregon, Washington and Idaho) to collect the annual feedstock requirement 

of 113,000 BDT for the proposed Gridley Ethanol Demonstration Project. 

3. Projected Feedstock Costs 

The projected feedstock cost for 113,000 BDT of rice straw delivered 

annually to the Gridley facility is approximately $35.00/BDT. 

2
FEEDSTOCK SUPPLY PLAN

2. FEEDSTOCK SUPPLY PLAN PURPOSE & APPROACH 

The purpose of this Feedstock Supply Plan Report is to: 

1. Assess the availability of rice straw. 

2. Determine a Feedstock Supply Plan to meet the proposed Gridley Ethanol 

Demonstration Project annual raw material needs. 

3. Assess the required infrastructure for rice straw collection, storage and 

transportation to the proposed Gridley facility site. 

4. Estimate the feedstock cost for delivery of the projected 113,000 BDT needed 

annually for the proposed Gridley facility. 

The geographic area covered in this Feedstock Supply assessment includes part or all of 

the Counties of Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Tehama, Yolo, and 

Yuba. Because there are large quantities of rice straw near the proposed Gridley facility 

site, TSS gathered data on the availability of rice straw feedstocks within a 30 - mile 

radius of the project, including all or part of the Counties of Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Sutter 

and Yuba. 

TSS used its database of planted agriculture crops, updated annually from the respective 

County Agriculture Commissioners. The California County Agriculture Commissioners 

annually report acreages of crops planted by County to the State Food and Agriculture 

Agency. TSS uses the County and State sources to determine planted acreages. Then 

using TSS data on biomass yields from various crops, TSS calculates the projected 

agriculture residues available from specific crops in specific geographical areas. TSS 

also conducts and monitors field trials for collecting or actual vendor operations 

gathering the residues to evolve the actual yields from different crops. 

Working with rice farmers, TSS has also done extensive field rice straw collection trials 

and evaluations to determine available rice straw yields by soil type, variety of rice 

planted, harvesting equipment, timing of harvesting and height of rice straw harvested 

above the waterline. TSS has assisted rice growers in the Butte County area in harvesting 

extensive volumes of rice straw, covering and storing the rice straw, and obtaining 

laboratory samples to evaluate the chemical analyses related to organic and inorganic 

composition, moisture content, Btu energy value and deterioration from long term 

storage. TSS also reviewed numerous studies in rice straw production, uses and 

harvesting techniques to identify the alternatives for harvesting, collection, storing, 

processing and transporting the rice straw to satellite storage, grower site storage and the 

proposed Gridley facility site. 

3
3. BACKGROUND 

3.1 Rice Straw Burning Reduction Act of 1991 

Approximately 500,000 acres of rice are harvested annually in California, resulting in 

approximately 1 million BDT of rice straw available annually. The Rice Straw Burning 

Reduction Act of 1991 (AB-1378) mandated a reduction in rice straw burning by the year 

2000 to no more than 25% of the planted acreage. The rice straw burning phase-down 

has proceeded as required in the statutes, with growers burning less than the statute 

limitations. Other open field burning laws and regulations further limit the actual rice 

straw acreage burned annually. The total rice acreage burned annually has declined from 

303,000 acres in 1992, the first year of the phase-down, to slightly less than 72,000 acres 

in 2002. 

In 1997 the State of California enacted legislation (SB 318) Rice Straw Demonstration 

Project, to modify existing law to provide a pause in the phase down of rice straw 

burning. This legislation was necessary because anticipated commercial technologies 

that could utilize significant amounts of rice straw had not developed. This legislation 

established a fund to provide cost-sharing grants for the development by demonstration 

projects for new rice straw technologies. Since its establishment in 1997, the ARB has 

awarded $5 million in funds to 10 recipients for demonstration and commercialization 

projects through the Rice Straw Demonstration Project Grant Fund. 

The Gridley Ethanol Project through the efforts of the Rice Straw Cooperative was able 

to take advantage of the program and received $380,000 as a 50% cost sharing grant to 

collect, transport and store 18,000 BDT of rice straw for this project during 2000 and 

2001. This grant allowed the Rice Straw Cooperative the opportunity to gain valuable 

experience in developing and operating a rice straw collection infrastructure. 

These grants were intended to support diversion of 50 % or more of rice straw produced 

toward off-field uses by 2000, the legislative goal. Off-field uses could include, but were 

not limited to, the production of energy and fuels, construction materials, pulp and paper, 

and livestock feed. New technologies have not yet sufficiently developed to achieve this 

goal. The California Air Resources Board reports that only 3 – 5 % (approximately 

18,000 tons) of the rice straw grown in California is currently used off-field. The 

primary uses to date have been for cattle feed and for erosion control. 

3.2 The Proposed Gridley Ethanol Project 

The City of Gridley is located in the heart of California’s rice growing area and its 

economy is uniquely dependent on rice production and markets. In addition, Gridley 

operates a municipal utility, with responsibility for delivering electrical power to the 

4
community. The Gridley community, including local rice growers, initiated the Gridley 

Ethanol Project to solve a major rice straw disposal problem and help maintain the 

economic viability in Butte County and the greater Sacramento Valley. The proposed 

Gridley Ethanol Project will utilize rice straw to produce ethanol for the transportation 

fuel markets. 

A viable market alternative to dispose of rice straw will reduce the alternative disposal 

costs of the phase-down of rice straw burning for rice growers. One of the more 

promising technologies for producing a high value product is to convert rice straw into 

ethanol. The current technology utilized by Pearson Technologies, Inc. (Pearson) has the 

potential to annually produce 20 million gallons of ethanol from 113,000 BDT of rice 

straw, co-host process heat and/or electricity. 

In the fall of 1997, a group of Butte County rice growers, the City of Gridley Mayor Pro 

Tem Tom Sanford and TSS Consultants began to evaluate the feasibility of a rice strawto-ethanol facility. During March 1998, the Butte County rice growers formed the Rice 

Straw Cooperative to provide supplies of rice straw to potential commercial users. The 

goal of this Cooperative was to find a reliable market for the rice straw in Butte County 

and to develop the infrastructure and methods to collect and transport the rice straw to an 

end use. To date, members of the Rice Straw Cooperative have baled over 45,000 tons of 

rice straw over a six-year period to gain knowledge and evolve the infrastructure and 

techniques needed to collect rice straw. 

The site for the proposed Gridley Ethanol Project is within the City of Gridley’s newly 

established Gridley Industrial Park. A parcel located in the northeastern portion of the 

industrial park totaling 14.74 acres has been selected for siting this facility. Given the 

anticipated footprint of the ethanol production facility and associated infrastructure, it is 

estimated that approximately one month’s rice straw feedstock will be stored on this site. 

The supply plan envisions rice grower site storage at a few locations within the Butte 

County area. 

3.2.1. Gridley Ethanol Project Objectives: 

(a) Help preserve the Community’s agriculture economy in Butte County and adjacent 

areas. 

(b) Comply with the environmental legislative mandates to phase out most of the open 

field rice straw burning. 

(c) Annually produce 20 million gallons of ethanol, a clean transportation fuel to reduce 

air emissions from California’s vehicles. 

3.2.2. Project Benefits 

a) Supports continued rice farming in the Sacramento Valley by providing a practical 

straw disposal alternative to burning. 

b) Creates jobs, new tax base and economic development in the Sacramento Valley. 

5
4. RICE STRAW FEEDSTOCK AVAILABILITY 

TSS assessed the availability of rice straw feedstock within the Sacramento Valley. The 

following section identifies and discusses the availability of rice straw as a feedstock for 

the proposed Gridley Ethanol Project. 

4.1. Current Supply 

TSS gathered and analyzed the rice harvest data by county throughout the Sacramento 

Valley. Table 4-1 shows the acreage by county and total rice straw estimated available 

annually. 

A review of the crop data from County Agricultural Commissioners’ Crop Reports 

indicates, approximately 511,300 acres of rice is currently grown annually in the 

Sacramento Valley. This is 96% of the total rice grown in California. 

TSS estimates that approximately 3 bone dry tons (BDT) of rice straw are generated per 

acre, totaling over 1.5 million BDT of rice straw on an annual basis. Based upon the 

assessments accomplished during the rice straw baling by the Rice Straw Cooperative 

from 1998 – 2003, TSS estimates that the average volume of rice straw that was 

economically removed was found to be 2.0 BDT/acre. The Table below summarizes the 

resultant rice straw availability. 

Table 4-1. Rice Acreage and Rice Straw Supply in the Sacramento Valley 

County Rice Acreage* Rice Straw (BDT) 

Butte 99,000 198,000 

Colusa 274,000 

Glenn 173,000 

Placer 24,000 

Sacramento 8,200 16,400 

Sutter 201,400 

Tehama 900 1,800 

Yolo 31,200 62,400 

Yuba 71,600 

Total 511,300 1,022,600 

137,000 

86,500 

12,000 

100,700 

35,800 

* Rice acreage based on County Agricultural Commissioner Crop Reports for 2002. 

The Gridley area is located within heart of the rice-growing region of California. 

Approximately 74% of the rice grown in the Sacramento Valley is within a 30-mile 

radius of the project site located in Gridley. 

6
Table 4-2 shows that 379,765 acres of rice are grown within a 30-mile radius of the 

proposed Gridley site and that 759,530 BDT of recoverable rice straw are generated 

annually. 

Table 4-2. Rice Acreage and Straw Availability Within a 30-Mile Radius of Gridley 

County Rice Acreage* Rice Straw (BDT) 

Butte 99,000 198,000 

Colusa 219,200 

Glenn 129,750 

Sutter 140,980 

Yuba 71,600 

Total 379,765 759,530 

109,600 

64,875 

70,490 

35,800 

* Rice acreage based on County Agricultural Commissioner Crop Reports for 2002, adjusted for the 

portion of the county falling within the 30- mile radius. 

This volume of rice straw is 6.7 times the 113,000 BDT of total feedstock needed by the 

proposed Gridley facility. 

Figure 4-1 on the next page illustrates that the location of the proposed Gridley is within 

the concentration of rice straw acreage in the Northern Sacramento Valley. 

7
Figure 4-1. Map depicting concentration of rice straw in the Northern Sacramento Valley. 

8
PROPOSED GRIDLEY GASIFICATION TO ETHANOL 

DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM 

FEEDSTOCK SUPPLY AREA 

Figure 4-2. Map depicting a 30-mile radius feedstock supply area surrounding Gridley. 

9
4.2. Trends and Projections 

Much of the Sacramento Valley rice growing soils are heavy clay with high water tables that 

cannot economically grow other crops except rice. Of the approximately 500,000 acres of rice 

growing lands in the Sacramento Valley, it is estimated that 300,000 acres are the heavier clay 

soils that have not been successful growing alternative crops. The remaining lands are silty clay 

and silty clay loams that, depending on the other crop markets, can grow other crops such as 

alfalfa, oats and barley. 

Unlike most of California, water is readily available in the Gridley area, from the high water table 

and farmer access to extensive surface water supplies. Water availability, along with rice 

commodity prices, has resulted in historical rice planted acreage of 360,000 to 548,000 acres 

annually as shown in Table 4-3. 

Table 4-3. California Rice Acreage Harvested, 1986 – 2002 

Year Acres 

1986 360,000 

1987 370,000 

1988 425,000 

1989 410,000 

1990 395,000 

1991 350,000 

1992 394,000 

1993 437,000 

1994 485,000 

1995 465,000 

1996 500,000 

1997 516,000 

1998 458,000 

1999 505,000 

2000 548,000 

2001 471,000 

2002 528,000 

The California Agricultural Statistics Service reports that 2003 plantings were down 

approximately 12% to 470,000 acres due to a wet spring causing delayed plantings as well as 

decisions of some growers to sell water and fallow land. 

4.3. Collection, Processing and Transportation of Rice Straw 

Equipment to collect rice straw includes rakes, swathers, balers, stackwagons and 

loaders. Equipment is available from a variety of manufacturers and each type comes in 

various configurations, with varying capacities, speeds and range of costs. Based on 

TSS’s experience in managing and monitoring rice straw collection efforts in California 

from 1991 – 2003, TSS recommends the following mix of equipment to efficiently 

collect and deliver the required rice straw to the proposed Gridley facility. 

10
Swather 

The following Figure 4-3 shows a self-propelled rotary swather cutting stripper header 

harvested rice straw. After rice harvest, the swather can also cut the remaining stubble 

by a conventional header harvester to maximize the volume of straw per acre collected. 

Swathing rice straw is expensive, approximately $10 per acre or $5/BDT for stripper 

header straw. 

Figure 4-3. Rotary swather cutting stripper header rice straw. 

Figure 4-4. Raking rice straw in preparation for baling. 

11
Rakes 

Rakes are used for windrowing rice straw prior to baling. This is done when the rice 

harvester has spread the straw for drying, or when the windrow left by the harvester does 

not dry in sufficient time for baling without turning. Raking is also used to combine 

multiple windrows after swathing to increase baler throughput. 

Balers 

The most cost effective bales in current commercial use are: 

1) Small rectangular bales of conventional type made by a variety of machines and 

having dimensions of 16”x24”x48”; 

2) Large rectangular bales (Hesston balers) with nominal dimensions of 

36”x48”x96”; and 

3) Large rectangular bales (Freeman balers) with nominal dimensions of 

48”x48”x96”. 

Based on numerous field trials and TSS’s experience, using the nominal 36” x 48” x 96” 

foot bales or the 48” x 48” x 96” bales are the most cost effective in terms of delivered 

cost/BDT. Baling capacities are consistently higher for the large rectangular balers 

compared with the small rectangular balers, with the large balers averaging about twice 

the material production capacity. 

Figure 4-5 shows a Hesston large bale baler making 36”x48”x96” bales weighing from 

975 to 1025 pounds, with 11 – 15% moisture contents. 

Figure 4-5. Baling rice straw utilizing a large bale baler. 

12
Roadsiding 

Roadsiding consists of moving bales from the interior of a rice field to the edge of the 

field where the bales are accessible for loading onto trucks. In some cases, the 

roadsiding operation may include transport of up to a mile or more to a local storage area, 

with no additional interim stacking and loading operations. Typically, roadsiding 

operations involve either stacking bales at the edge of the field for later retrieval and 

loading on trucks, or directly loading bales on trucks during the roadsiding operation. 

The following Figure 4-6 shows one method of retrieving large bales from the field. This 

machine has the capability to pick up 8 bales per load. 

Figure 4-6. Freeman Stackwagon retrieving bales from field. 

13
The following Figure 4-7 shows another piece of equipment for picking up large rice 

straw bales from the field. This machine can pick up 12 bales per load for stacking 

roadside. 

Figure 4.7. Retrieving 12 large bales per load from the rice field. 

The following Figure 4-8. shows rice straw bales stored at a roadside location, awaiting transport 

to a user. 

Figure 4-8. Stacking large bales at a grower’s roadside site. 

14
The following Figure 4-9 shows the loading of a truck for transportation to the facility. 

This equipment, commonly know as a squeeze, can efficiently load and unload rice straw 

and stack bales for storage. 

Figure 4-9. A squeeze loading rice straw for transportation to a user. 

15
Transportation 

Transportation of rice straw is usually done using either semi-trucks with double flat bed 

combinations, or semi-trucks with double drop-bed trailer combinations. Drop-bed 

trailers can haul larger volumes by adding bales between the wheel axles. The drop-bed 

trailers are used only with the larger 48” x 48” x 96” foot Hesston bales. Flat-bed trailer 

combinations typically carry 460 – 512 small bales, 42 – 48 Freeman-type large 

rectangular bales, or 28 – 30 Hesston-type large rectangular bales. Payloads on flat-bed 

trailers with Freeman bales are about 10% higher than with Hesston bales due to 

utilization of an additional 9 foot load height in stacking 3 bales high without exceeding 

maximum legal height. On flat-bed trailers, the Hesston bales can only be transported in 

stacks 2 bales high. Highest payloads are obtained using the drop-bed trailers with 36 – 

38 Hesston bales. 

The following Figure 4-10 shows a truckload of 36” x 48” x 96” foot bales of rice straw 

on its way to the storage area. Note that the bales can be stacked three high. 

Figure 4-10. A truck loaded with rice straw arriving at a satellite storage area. 

16
The following Figure 4-11 shows rice straw in storage on prepared pads. These stacks 

were constructed 32 feet wide and 30 feet high at the peak. Each stack contains 

approximately 1,000 BDT. 

Figure 4-11. Uncovered rice straw in storage. 

The following Figure 4-12 shows tarped rice straw stored on a rice grower’s property. 

Tarping is effective for short-term storage. Tarping costs range between $5 - $8/BDT 

depending upon how extensively the stacks are covered. 

Figure 4-12. Tarped rice straw in storage on growers site. 

17
The following Figure 4-13 shows rice straw stored in a barn. This type of storage is 

recommended for longer-term storage (more than one year). The initial cost of a barn is 

approximately $50/BDT for a barn that will store approximately 2,000 BDT. In this case, 

the cost is approximately $7/BDT on an annual basis. Barn storage provides the best 

protection for rice straw, eliminating losses due to water entering the stack either when 

tarps become separated during bad weather or when water seeps up from the bottom of a 

stack. 

Figure 4-13. Rice straw stored in a barn on grower’s property. 

4.4. Economics of rice straw collection and transportation 

Based on TSS cost studies and actual rice straw contract negotiations conducted during 

the past few years, TSS projected the costs of rice straw collection and transportation to 

the proposed Gridley Ethanol Facility site.. For the proposed Gridley facility, TSS 

estimates costs of $26.74/BDT to bale and roadside rice straw (as shown in Table 4-4). 

This assumes that up to 20% of the total rice straw annual supply is harvested by a 

18
stripper header harvester, requiring the straw to be swathed. The remaining 80% would 

be harvested by traditional harvesters that cut the rice stalk above the water line, separate 

the rice from the straw and disperse the rice straw on the ground. The following Table 

shows the TSS estimated costs to collect and deliver large quantities of rice straw to the 

proposed Gridley facility. 

Table 4-4. Estimated Rice Straw Feedstock Costs 

Cost Item Cost/ton Cost/BDT 

Bale and Roadside $23.00 $26.74 

Load & Transport to Facility $7.00 $8.14 

Total $30.00 $34.88 

Transportation is a significant cost of rice straw, second only to baling and roadsiding 

costs. Transportation costs can be significantly increased in part or all of the rice straw 

have to be loaded, unloaded and transported twice: first to a satellite storage site and then 

from the satellite storage site to the user facility. Thus, the alternatives for rice storage 

are a key economic part of the transportation planning and resulting costs. 

There are three alternatives for storing rice straw: 

1. Storage at the proposed Gridley facility site. This is limited to approximately 

30 days supply. 

2. Satellite rice straw storage sites that are really transfer stations. These require 

loading rice straw onto trucks and unloading at the satellite storage sites. 

Then reloading and transporting the rice straw to the eventual user facility, 

which increases the total delivered costs of the raw material. 

3. Rice grower site storage. These are sites close to the rice field where the rice 

straw is collected. The rice straw can be delivered from the rice fields for 

temporary storage without loading on to a truck. 

The plan for the Gridley facility is to use rice grower storage sites to avoid double 

handling and trucking. This will result in eventual transportation from the growers’ sites 

to the facility with only one trucking cost. 

Use of rice grower storage sites, will allow up to a years supply of rice straw to be stored 

during the short window of harvesting the rice straw; usually late August through 

October. Thus the significant benefit to grower-sited storage near the harvested field, is 

that it eliminates the double handling that would be required if the rice straw had to be 

moved to satellite storage areas. In addition to maximizing the weight of straw on each 

load – the cost is a function of the amount of time required to load a truck in the field, 

travel to the facility, unload and return to pick up another load. 

19
The following Table 4-5 shows TSS’s estimated transportation costs based on the 

distance the rice straw must be transported. It is important that this project is located in 

the heart of the rice growing region and that most of the rice straw will be from growers 

lands that are relatively close to the proposed Gridley facility. 

The data in Table 4-5 reflects the costs per load for the various distances as well as the 

costs per ton based on the most recent data where loads averaged 20.8 tons, or 17.9 BDT 

at an average of 14% moisture content. 

Table 4-5. Estimated Rice Straw Transportation Costs 

Mileage Cost/Load Cost/ton Cost/BDT 

0-10 $83 $3.99 $4.64 

11-25 $129 $6.20 $7.21 

26-40 $156 $7.50 $8.72 

Transportation costs have the potential to be reduced by increasing load size by 

increasing the allowable truck length and increasing bale density to increase load 

weights. Improvements have been made in bale density as the baling equipment has been 

improved. Average weights for a 36” x 48” x 96” bales ranged from 975 to 1,025 

pounds/bale during the 2001 season. This is an increase of 5% from the 900 to 975 

pounds/bale of rice straw collected during the 2000 season. 

There has been new legislation passed to increase the allowable truck length within the 

primary rice growing area of California. In 1999, Assembly Bill (AB) 1489 amended the 

California Vehicle Code to allow a front extension on the first trailer and a back 

extension on the last trailer in a combination of trailers used for hauling straw. The front 

extension, however is not allowed on national or federal highways. If only state or local 

highways are used for transporting rice straw, this law allows larger loads of rice straw to 

be transported to a user facility. 

In 2002, AB-2051 amended the California Vehicle Code to provide that a combination of 

vehicles designed and used to transport agricultural biomass, (such as a truck tractor, a 

semitrailer, and a semitrailer or trailer), may extend to a total combined length of 75 feet, 

if the length of the front trailer does not exceed 32 feet, and the length of the rear trailer 

does not exceed 28 feet 6 inches. The bill authorizes operation of these vehicles within 

the Counties of Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Placer, Sutter, Tehama, Yolo, and Yuba, but would 

not apply to highways designed as national network routes, as specified. Again, the 

impact of this legislation was to reduce the hauling costs by authorizing larger rice straw 

loads. 

This statute makes it possible to transport up to 48 – 36” x 48” x 96” rice straw bales, 

compared with 42 large bales under previous state statute. This could effectively 

increase the truckload averages of rice straw from the 17.9 BDT/truckload to 20.5 

BDT/truckload. This could further reduce the rice straw transportation costs to the 

proposed Gridley facility. 

20
AB-2051 also requires the California Highway Patrol, in consultation with the California 

Department of Transportation, to conduct a study on the effect of this act on public 

safety, and to report the findings to the Legislature on or before July 1, 2005. This bill 

also provides that provisions of this act will sunset on July 1, 2006, and must be extended 

to allow the variation in the allowable truckloads of rice straw. 

4.5. Technical Barriers to Rice Straw Collection 

The primary technical barriers to collection of rice straw in the Sacramento Valley are (1) 

the limited weather period for rice straw collections and (2) scaling up of rice straw 

collection to an industrial level for the proposed Gridley Ethanol Project. 

TSS Consultants conducted an analysis of the weather limitation and the infrastructure 

needs for scaling up to produce large volumes of rice straw annually. Under worse case 

analysis, there is a 45-day calendar period during the fall when the entire annual rice 

straw needs must be collected. TSS determined the infrastructure needed for that worst 

case weather-limited window. 

Rice straw collection cannot be done until the rice is harvested and the rice straw dried. 

As noted earlier, rice harvesting in the Sacramento Valley usually starts during late 

August and continues until the first heavy rains, usually by the end of October. The 

weather factors limiting rice straw collection during this approximately 75-day period are 

occurrence, frequency and volume of rainfall during the rice straw collection period. An 

occasional rain of 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 inch causes some delays, but when a rainfall totals 1 inch or 

more the ground becomes too wet to operate equipment. 

Rice straw dries best when spread behind the rice harvester and was the slowest to dry 

when cut with a swather because the straw is placed in a wide windrow closer to the 

ground. High moisture in the straw can limit the number of operating hours available 

each day. For example, higher value rice straw export markets require that the rice straw 

be baled at 14% or less. 

During the past years, to gain experience with baling that will meet some market 

moisture content specifications, the upper moisture content limit on the balers was 

initially set at 12%, but this proved to be too restrictive. This upper moisture content 

limit was moved up to 14%. Normally, baling can begin after the night time dew 

dissipates, around 10-11 am and continue until about 10-11 pm. However, during some 

years the moisture levels will stay high due to the weather, limiting the baling hours to an 

average as low as 7 hours per day. 

Further experimenting was done to increase the number of baling hours by increasing the 

upper moisture limit to 18%. During the same weather patterns, the average baling time 

was increased to 9 hours per day. However, this moisture level proved to be high for 

optimum rice straw storage. So for baling purposes, the upper moisture limit was set to 

16% to be more appropriate for baling rice straw for conversion to ethanol. 

21
The following Table 4-6 reflects the rice straw collection equipment required during the 

limited 45-day collection period. This projection is based on what was learned from 

several years of rice straw collection. 

Table 4-6. Estimated Collection Infrastructure Requirement 

Equipment Number 

Tractor rake unit 18 

Tractor baler unit (big bale) 36 

Stack wagon 18 

In TSS’s opinion, there is adequate rice straw infrastructure equipment to support the 

short window of rice straw collection under the 45-day worst-case weather limited 

season. This is based on TSS’s previous experience and work with vendors harvesting 

hay, fescue, rye grass and rice straw that could be used for collecting rice straw for the 

proposed Gridley facility. Sufficient infrastructure is available and can be expanded in 

California and in the Northwest (Oregon, Washington and Idaho) to collect the annual 

feedstock requirement of 113,000 BDT for the proposed Gridley facility. 

Although rice straw collection has a limited weather season, that season immediately 

follows rice harvest, so that the rice grower, the rice transportation equipment and 

personnel are available for the rice straw collection. Second, the rice straw collection 

season also follows the summer harvests and collection of hay, grass straws and other 

grain straws in California and the Northwest. This allows that existing equipment, 

personnel and infrastructure to be shifted to the Sacramento Valley for the rice straw 

collection season. 

4.6. Incentives for Increased Utilization of Rice Straw 

In an effort to promote alternatives to rice straw burning, the Legislature funded several 

programs. These programs are: 

• California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) Rice Straw Demonstration Project 

Grant Fund 

• California Department of Food & Agriculture’s (CDFA) Rice Straw Utilization 

Tax Credit Program 

• CDFA’s Biomass Utilization Grant Fund 

The only program still in place is the Rice Straw Utilization Tax Credit Program. The 

Rice Straw Utilization Tax Credit Program was established by Senate Bill (SB) 38 during 

1996. This law provides that for each taxable year, between 1997 and 2008, the end 

22
users of rice straw can qualify for a $15 per ton state tax credit up to a $400,000 program 

cap. The CDFA has administered the program since 1997 and issued tax credits for over 

90,000 tons of rice straw. The program has been utilized primarily by small businesses 

utilizing rice straw for animal feeding and erosion control products. The tax credit 

program cap of $400,000 needs to be increased to effectively encourage large-scale uses 

of rice straw. 

4.7. Competition for Rice Straw 

Competition for rice straw is limited due to lack of progress in developing markets for 

off-field uses of rice straw. According to the September 2003 Progress Report on “The 

Phase-Down of Rice Straw Burning in the Sacramento Valley Air Basin”, despite the 

State subsidized grant and tax credit programs, significant off-field uses of rice straw 

have not materialized. Soil incorporation is the alternative straw management practice 

for rice acreage not burned. Off-field uses of rice straw continue to be slow to develop; 

with an estimated 3 – 5% (18,000 tons) of the rice straw grown in California is used offfield. The primary uses have been cattle feed and erosion control. 

CARB’s Rice Straw Demonstration Project Grant Fund has funded two projects to 

investigate the potential to export rice straw. Should this market become viable, it could 

utilize significant quantities of high quality rice straw (TSS estimates up to 125,000 BDT 

annually), increasing demand on the infrastructure to collect and store the rice straw. 

Anderson Hay & Grain Co., Inc. received a CARB grant for $500,000 to develop a 

disease treatment protocol acceptable to the Japanese government for exporting rice 

straw to Japan. Anderson is still pursuing the potential to export rice straw from 

California. 

Kuhn Hay received a CARB grant for $402,311 for a rice straw export project. The 

purpose of the CARB grant was also to develop a disease treatment protocol to satisfy the 

Japanese government for exporting rice straw to Japan. 

4.8. Avoided Grower Disposal Costs 

A key factor in providing rice straw at an acceptable cost to the ethanol facility is the 

increasing straw disposal costs to rice growers, caused by the statutory phase down of 

open field burning on 75% of the planted acreage. Based on previous studies by the 

University of California Cooperative Extension Service and field studies by TSS and 

others, a derived average cost for incorporating rice straw into the soil versus burning, is 

$36/acre. This cost averages the use of various incorporation techniques for a range of 

soils and a variety of rice straw species. It also takes account of other factors such as 

weather and volumes of rice straw per acre, both of which vary annually. 

23
Although there are approximately 3 BDT/acre of rice straw remaining after harvest to 

incorporate in to the soil, the net volume rice straw available for collection averages 

approximately 2 BDT/acre. Growers that have opted to utilize baling and removal as a 

means of disposing of their rice straw have experienced costs of $50 - $60/acre. In 

addition, they can have significant transportation and storage costs to deliver their rice 

straw to a market as referenced earlier in this report. 

With the long-term trend of increasing statutory and regulatory limitations on disposal of 

agriculture residues, the alternative disposal costs continue to increase. This trend of 

increasing disposal costs makes the conversion of the agriculture residues to a raw 

material more economically inviting to farmers, such as the rice growers. 

4.9. Feedstock Storage and Management 

It is anticipated that the available space for rice straw storage at the facility will be 

limited to approximately 6,500 BDT, or about a 20-day supply. Rice straw collection 

will begin within a few days after rice harvesting begins, typically by late August. Rice 

harvesting historically continues through October, or until there is significant rain, 

making the fields inaccessible. Assuming that the facility will require 113,000 BDT of 

rice straw on an annual basis, the rice straw flow is projected to be as summarized in 

Table 4-8. The rice straw requirement is based upon operating the facility an estimated 

330 days per year. For this inventory plan it is assumed that there will be a major outage 

for the month of August. TSS recommends that the project carry over approximately 

10% of the annual rice straw requirement, or 11,300 BDT to protect against supply 

shortfalls caused by early rains during the fall harvesting season. This additional 

inventory carry over will need to be placed in inventory on grower’s storage sites. 

Rice straw permanent storage facilities are currently inadequate. Most rice straw storage 

has utilized tarps. The University of California at Davis conducted research into the 

various impacts of different storage alternatives. Their research indicates the cost to 

construct a barn is approximately $50 per ton of rice straw. Annual costs of storage 

range from $7 to $9.50 per ton. 

Rice straw that can be scheduled for delivery during the harvest season and prior to the 

end of December can likely be left uncovered on grower’s storage pads, then transported 

to the facility. This amounts to approximately 41,000 BDT. The remaining rice straw, 

approximately 72,000 BDT, should either be covered with tarps or stored in barns to 

protect the integrity of the bales for transportation. If this volume of rice straw were 

stored in barns the amount of capital required to construct these barns would be 

approximately $3,600,000. It is anticipated that this cost of some form of covering will 

be born by the grower in exchange for offsetting his current rice straw disposal costs. It 

is TSS’s opinion that this approach is necessary, based upon the experience in collecting 

and storing rice straw by the Rice Straw Cooperative during the past few years. 

24
Table 4-8. Rice Straw Delivery and Inventory Plan 

Time 

Period 

Baled 

(BDT) 

Delivered to 

Facility 

(BDT) 

Available at 

Facility 

(BDT) 

Consumed 

at Facility 

(BDT) 

Inventory 

at Facility 

(BDT) 

Offsite 

Inventory 

(BDT) 

Existing Inv. 6,500 4,500 

9/1 - 30 37,500 10,250 16,750 10,250 6,500 31,750 

10/1 - 31 75,500 10,250 16,750 10,250 6,500 97,000 

11/1 - 30 0 10,250 16,750 10,250 6,500 86,750 

12/1 - 31 0 10,250 16,750 10,250 6,500 76,500 

1/1 – 31 0 10,250 16,750 10,250 6,500 66,250 

2/1 – 28 0 10,250 16,750 10,250 6,500 56,000 

3/1 – 31 0 10,250 16,750 10,250 6,500 45,750 

4/1 – 30 0 10,250 16,750 10,250 6,500 35,500 

5/1 – 31 0 10,250 16,750 10,250 6,500 25,250 

6/1 – 30 0 10,250 16,750 10,250 6,500 15,000 

7/1 – 31 0 10,250 16,750 10,500 6,500 4,750 

8/1 - 31 0 250 7,000 0 6,500 4,500 

Total 113,000 113,000 113,000 

5. CONCLUSIONS 

Following are the conclusions of this Report: 

• There is sufficient rice straw available in the area to supply the proposed Gridley 

Ethanol Demonstration Project. A total of 379,765 acres of rice are grown within 

a 30-mile radius of the Gridley site. 759,530 BDT of recoverable rice straw are 

generated annually. This volume of rice straw is 6.7 times the 113,000 BDT of 

total feedstock needed by the proposed Gridley facility. 

• Sufficient infrastructure is available and more can be developed in California and 

in the Northwest (Oregon, Washington and Idaho) to collect the annual feedstock 

requirement of 113,000 BDT for the proposed Gridley facility. Rice straw 

collection has a short collection season, immediately following rice harvest. The 

rice straw collection season can be as short as 45 calendar days. However the rice 

straw collection season follows the harvest and collection of rice, hay, grass seed 

straws and other grain straws in California and in the Northwest, making much of 

that equipment available for collecting rice straw during a limited weather 

window for collection. 

• The projected feedstock cost for rice straw delivered to the facility is 

approximately $35.00/BDT. 

25
REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE Form Approved 

OMB No. 0704-0188 

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PLEASE DO NOT RETURN YOUR FORM TO THE ABOVE ORGANIZATION. 

1. REPORT DATE (DD-MM-YYYY) 

July 2004 

2. REPORT TYPE 

Subcontract Report 

3. DATES COVERED (From - To) 

March 2004 

4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 

Gridley Ethanol Demonstration Project Utilizing Gasification 

Technology: Feedstock Supply Plan 

5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 

DE-AC36-99-GO10337 

5b. GRANT NUMBER 

5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 

6. AUTHOR(S) 

TSS Consultants 

5d. PROJECT NUMBER 

NREL/SR-510-36403 

5e. TASK NUMBER 

BB04.7610 

5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER 

7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 

TSS Consultants 

2724 Kilgore Road 

Rancho Cordova, CA 95670 

8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION 

REPORT NUMBER 

ZCO-2-32065-01 

9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 

National Renewable Energy Laboratory 

1617 Cole Blvd. 

Golden, CO 80401-3393 

10. SPONSOR/MONITOR'S ACRONYM(S) 

NREL 

11. SPONSORING/MONITORING 

AGENCY REPORT NUMBER 

NREL/SR-510-36403 

12. DISTRIBUTION AVAILABILITY STATEMENT 

National Technical Information Service 

U.S. Department of Commerce 

5285 Port Royal Road 

Springfield, VA 22161 

13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES 

NREL Technical Monitor: M. Ruth 

14. ABSTRACT (Maximum 200 Words) 

This report describes a Feedstock Supply Plan for the proposed Gridley Ethanol Demonstration Project to be located 

in the City of Gridley Industrial Park in Gridley, California. This report also includes information on the establishment 

of the required infrastructure required for collecting approximately 113,000 Bone Dry Tons (BDT) annually for the 

proposed facility. Using the Pearson Technology from Aberdeen, Mississippi, and the related engineering 

assumptions for required feedstock, it is estimated that the proposed Gridley Ethanol Project will use approximately 

113,000 BDT of rice straw to produce approximately up to 20 million gallons of ethanol annually, and/or process 

steam and or electricity. Based on TSS’s survey of planted rice acreage in the Sacramento Valley, a total of 379,765 

acres of rice are grown within a 30-mile radius of the Gridley site and that 759,530 BDT of recoverable rice straw are 

generated annually. This volume of rice straw is 6.7 times the 113,000 BDT of total feedstock needed by the 

proposed Gridley facility. Sufficient infrastructure exists with additional market potential for further private market 

infrastructure expansion in California and the Northwest (Oregon, Washington and Idaho) to collect the annual 

feedstock requirement of 113,000 BDT for the proposed Gridley Ethanol Demonstration Project. 

15. SUBJECT TERMS 

biofuels; ethanol; fuels; chemicals; synthesis gas; syngas; feedstock; biomass 

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