Biofuel supply chain optimal design considering economic, environmental, and societal aspects towards sustainability

Abstract

Summary Biofuel supply chain design plays a critical role in facilitating the large‐scale substitution of biofuel for traditional fossil fuels with a cost‐effective and environmentally friendly manner towards sustainability. This paper proposes a multiobjective optimization model for a 4‐layer biofuel supply chain network using mixed integer nonlinear programming while considering the benefits from economic, environmental, and societal aspects. The model can be used either to optimize an existing biofuel supply chain network or to guide the construction of a new biofuel supply chain network. The profit, the greenhouse gas emissions in transportation, and the market share of biofuel were set as targets for optimization. The selection of the participators at each layer, and the amount of the material flow between each pair of selected supplier and customer located at two adjacent layers were modeled as decision variables. The conventional weighted aggregation method was used to unify 3 objectives after normalization. Particle swarm optimization was used to solve this high‐dimension multiobjective problem to obtain a near optimal solution. A numerical case study based on the state of Missouri in the United States was implemented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed model. The results of the case study illustrate that the benefits in terms of transportation emission, profit, and market share can be achieved simultaneously. Using the equal weights configuration in conventional weighted aggregation as an example, a 21% reduction of the transportation emission, a 33% increase of the profit, and a 2% augmentation of the market share were achieved compared to the benchmark scenario.

A biofuel supply chain equilibrium analysis with subsidy consideration

“…We cannot draw a sharp line between these levels of decision‐making, and there are several works that investigate all of them such as Kesharwani et al, Bai et al, Huang et al, and Bai et al In one of the closest works to ours, Kesharwani et al propose a multi‐objective BSC model to optimize profit, transportation emission, and the supply chain's sustainability. The proposed model is centralized in which the independence of the firms in decision‐making is not considered …”

“…[7][8][9] In one of the recent works, Cambero et al study a BSC in which forest residues are considered as an alternative raw material and strategic decisions, such as technology investment and annual material flows are optimized in this work. 10 Tactical and operational decisions such as land allocation, storage, transportation, and final product flow between nodes are another stream of articles in BSC ( [15][16][17][18] In one of the closest works to ours, Kesharwani et al propose a multiobjective BSC model to optimize profit, transportation emission, and the supply chain's sustainability. The proposed model is centralized in which the independence of the firms in decision-making is not considered.…”

“…The proposed model is centralized in which the independence of the firms in decision-making is not considered. 15 Policy analysis on BSC has been done in recent years to evaluate its impacts on farm and renewable fuel industries (eg, Wu and Langpap, Huang et al, and Palak et al). 3,19,20 Most of the work studies existing mandates and subsidizes plans concerning refineries only.…”

The Role of Manufacturing in Sustainable Economic Development: A Case of Guangzhou, China

“…Basic economic growth is generally measured by GDP per capita, investment share in GDP, and a balance of trade in goods and service [2, 28,29]. In terms of consumption and production patterns, resource usage efficiency and cost, the intensity of land, water and energy usage are generally discussed [30][31][32][33][34][35]. Recently, there is more research on industrial upgrading and diversity with economic sustainability [36][37][38].…”

Techno‐economic analysis and a novel assessment technique of paper mill sludge conversion to bioethanol toward sustainable energy production

“…cost. 7,8 There is a vast collection of zero-cost feedstock generated from various industrial activities such as a paper mill sludge. 9,10 Pulp and paper industry produce large amounts of cellulose-rich sludge waste that can be utilized as a cheaper source of biomass compared to agricultural biomasses and residues.…”