Biorefinery Location and Technology Selection Through Supply Chain Optimization

Abstract

This paper proposes a mixed integer linear program for determining economical biomass processing facility locations and capacities, and applies it to assess the biofuel supply chain of the Midwestern United States and the feasibility of meeting governmental biofuel mandates in 2015. Existing corn ethanol facilities and new candidate facility sites are considered for biofuel production by utilizing eight types of biomass. The spatial distribution and farmgate cost of biomass is accessed from a recently updated U.S. Department of Energy database. Seven biomass processing technologies that are expected to be commercialized in the near-term are available for construction at each candidate facility site. A detailed cash flow analysis that includes capital depreciation and taxation is embedded into the model formulation to give insights into the minimum biofuel selling price for each facility site. Equilibrium market cost for the Renewable Fuel Standard biofuel classifications (renewable fuel, advanced biofuel, and cellulosic biofuel), which is directly related to the Renewable Identification Number market price, is determined through sensitivity analysis of the delivered biofuel price.

Models for optimization and performance evaluation of biomass supply chains: An Operations Research perspective

“…[75] for placing biorefineries in the Middle West of USA, while determining their capacity and conversion technologies. This strategic study involves 3109 counties producing biomass, 8 types of biomass, 2 transportation modes, 159 existing conversion units, 98 potential new sites, 4 types of biofuels, 7 conversion technologies, and 3 markets.…”

Forest biomass supply chain optimization for a biorefinery aiming to produce high-value bio-based materials and chemicals from lignin and forestry residues: a review of literature

“…The majority of the optimal location studies focus on bioenergy production, including fuels, heat, and power (e.g., Leduc et al 2008;Velazquez-Marti and Fernandez-Gonzalez 2010;Parker et al 2010;Tittmann et al 2010;Bai et al 2011;Kim et al 2011;Natarajan et al 2012Natarajan et al , 2014Palander and Voutilainen 2013;Marvin et al 2013;Pantaleo et al 2014). However, some publications addressed BSC optimization for chemicals and materials production, including location problems, for example, Zhang and Wright (2014), Santibañez-Aguilar et al (2015), Kokossis et al (2015), , Sukumara et al (2014), Dansereau et al (2014) (Table 3).…”

The Effect of Environmental Criteria on Locating a Biorefinery: A Green Facility Location Problem

“…Few papers have considered biorefinery location from an analytical viewpoint. Most of them are supported by Geographical Information Systems such as Yu et al (2014), using Net Present Value as function objective to be maximized (Marvin et al, 2012) as well as multiobjective programming where You et al (2012), for instance, considered economic and environmental criteria. Finally, a remarkable work is described in the Memişoğlu et al (2015) paper in which a bioenergy supply chain is designed.…”