Transportation cost analysis on alternative wood feedstocks for manufacturing wood-plastic composites

Abstract

This study evaluated and analyzed transportation costs for manufacturing wood-plastic composites (WPCs) using wood flour and wood pellet feedstocks. The study area ranged from Maine (ME) to Massachusetts (MA) in the Northeast region of the United States (US). Wood mills in ME were the raw material providers, and the WPC manufacturers in ME and MA were the destinations. The methodologies included the Origin-Destination (OD) cost matrix feature in ArcGIS to find least-cost pathways from each facility to each destination; baseline scenarios based on trucking costs, travel distances, and wood feedstocks; and sensitivity analyses to study the effects of fluctuating input variables (travel distance, shipment weight, and shipping costs over distance) to the shipping costs by weight. Accordingly, the best and worst-case scenarios were identified. The OD-cost matrix showed that shipping feedstocks from southern ME required shorter travel distances than from other regions because of proximity. Transporting wood pellets in a truck would reduce shipping costs by at least 25% compared to wood flour. The shipping costs by weight were inversely related to the shipment weight. The shipment weight of wood pellets was higher than flour in a truck trailer with fixed volume. It is foreseen that the transportation of wood pellets as opposed to wood flour would be economical.