The success and sustainable operation of a commercial cellulosic biorefinery are highly dependent on price, quality, and availability of feedstocks. Currently, corn stover is a primary feedstock choice for cellulosic ethanol production and the same feedstock can be used for butanol production, which is a potential alternative biofuel. However, butanol production requires different levels of feedstock and logistical resources when compared to ethanol due to about 20% lower theoretical yield. A thorough analysis of cost, life-cycle energy use and life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions associated with a feedstock supply logistics system for butanol production is yet to be done. Additionally, quality standards for corn stover feedstock are yet to be determined, which could determine cost of the feedstock for commercial applications. Thus, this study aimed to fulfill these research gaps using techno-economic analysis and life-cycle assessment methodologies. Variability in logistical resources and other input parameters gathered from recent literature were used for analyses in this study. Average corn stover supply logistics cost ($/metric ton(t), dry), life-cycle energy use (MJ/t, dry) and life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions (kg CO_2e/t, dry) were 86.9, 1073.7 and 83.8, which could increase at 95% certainty to 159–504, 1672–3817 and 138–271, respectively, depending on the types of probability distributions of the input parameters. However, the mode value of logistics cost ($/t, dry), life-cycle energy use (MJ/t, dry) and life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions (kg CO_2e/t, dry) of 80–120, 913–1231 and 79–120, respectively, closely represents the results of the static model. The average estimated feedstock cost for butanol production was about 1.3 times and the minimum 95% certainty value is about 2 times more than the targeted feedstock cost ($/metric ton, dry) of 66.4, excluding preprocessing. Overall, the location of the biorefinery, quality of corn stover, sustainable agricultural practices, and optimum utilization of transportation resources were key factors that enable a sustainable feedstock supply logistics system.

商业纤维素生物精炼厂的成功与可持续运营在很大程度上取决于原料的价格，质量和可用性。当前，玉米秸秆是纤维素乙醇生产的主要原料选择，相同的原料可用于丁醇生产，这是潜在的替代生物燃料。但是，与乙醇相比，丁醇生产需要不同水平的原料和后勤资源，因为理论收率低约20％。与丁醇生产原料供应物流系统相关的成本，生命周期能源使用和生命周期温室气体排放的全面分析尚待完成。另外，玉米秸秆原料的质量标准尚待确定，这可能决定商业用途的原料成本。因此，这项研究旨在利用技术经济分析和生命周期评估方法来弥补这些研究空白。后勤资源的可变性和从最近的文献中收集的其他输入参数被用于这项研究中的分析。玉米秸秆平均供应物流成本（美元/公吨，干燥），生命周期能源消耗（MJ / t，干燥）和生命周期温室气体排放量（千克二氧化碳）_2e / t，干）分别为86.9、1073.7和83.8，这可以根据输入参数的概率分布类型，以95％的确定性分别增加到159–504、1672–3817和138–271。但是，物流成本（美元/吨，干燥），生命周期能源消耗（兆焦耳/吨，干燥）和生命周期温室气体排放量（千克CO _{2e）的模式价值}/ t，干）分别为80-120、913-11231和79-120。丁醇生产的平均估计原料成本约为1.3倍，最低95％的确定性值比目标原料成本（每吨，干）（66.4美元）高出约2倍（不包括预处理）。总体而言，生物炼油厂的位置，玉米秸秆的质量，可持续的农业实践以及对运输资源的最佳利用是实现可持续的原料供应物流系统的关键因素。