Dr. Stephen W. Searcy, professor and associate head of the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at Texas A&M University, will lecture on biofuels Monday (Oct. 5) from 3 to 3:50 p.m. in Room 203 of the Zachry Engineering Center on campus.

Searcy’s talk, “Logistics Systems for a Nascent Biofuels Industry: Challenges and Opportunities,” is part of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering’s seminar series sponsored by Parsons Corp.

Abstract
Government policy and raising crude oil prices are encouraging the development of renewable fuels created from biomass crops. The established goal of 36 billion gallons of liquid fuels in the nation’s energy supply by 2022 means nearly one half billion tons of plant dry matter will have to be collected, stored and transported from remote, distributed fields to central processing facilities.

The challenges associated with the development of a biomass feedstocks logistics system are many. The feedstock has undesirable characteristics (high moisture content, low density), is available only portions of the year, may be constrained by transportation infrastructure, and must compete with profit alternatives. In other words, it is a great engineering problem! We will discuss these challenges and the opportunities they present.

Biography
Stephen Searcy is professor and associate head of the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at Texas A&M University. His area of expertise is development and application of mechatronic systems for agriculture, with emphasis on harvest and transport logistics systems for cotton and energy biomass. He is a registered Professional Engineer, a Fellow of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE), and an active member of ASABE, the National Society of Professional Engineers and the Council of Agricultural Science and Technology.

He holds bachelor’s degrees in agricultural mechanization and agricultural engineering and an M.S. in agricultural mechanization, both from the University of Missouri, and a Ph.D. in agricultural engineering from Oklahoma State University.

Submitted by Katherine Edwards, kedwards@tamu.edu

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