Strategic optimization of forest residues to bioenergy and biofuel supply chain

Abstract

SUMMARYForest residues are renewable materials for bioenergy conversion that have the potential to replace fossil fuels beyond electricity and heat generation. A challenge hindering the intensified use of forest residues for energy production is the high cost of their supply chain. Previous studies on optimal design of forest residue supply chains focused on biofuel or bioenergy production separately, mostly with a single time period approach. We present a multi-period mixed integer linear programming model that optimizes the supply chain of forest residues for the production of bioenergy and biofuels simultaneously. The model determines (i) the location, type and size of the technologies to install and the period to install them, (ii) the mix of biofuel and bioenergy products to generate, (iii) the type and amount of forest residues to acquire and the sourcing points, (iv) the amount of forest residues to transport from sources to facilities and (v) the amount of product to transport from facilities to markets. The objective of the model is to maximize the net present value of the supply chain over a 20-year planning horizon with yearly time steps. We applied the model to a case study in British Columbia, Canada, to investigate the production of heat, electricity, pellets and pyrolysis bio-oil from available forest harvesting residues and sawmill wastes. Based on current energy generation costs in the region and the predicted operating costs of new conversion plants, the results of our model recommended the installation of small biomass boilers coupled with steam turbines for electricity production (0.5 and 5 MW) and pyrolysis plants with a capacity of 200 and 400 odmt day À1. We performed a sensitivity analysis to evaluate the sensitivity of the optimal result to changes in the demand and price of products, as well as the availability and cost of forest residues.

Integrating a Biorefinery into an Operating Kraft Mill

“…Selection of a pulp mill biorefinery design depends on analysis of pathways that factor in the supply chain, process integration technologies, and product and market access (Hytönen and Stuart 2012;Dansereau et al 2014;Cambero et al 2015;Kim and Dale 2015;Kokossis et al 2015). While the drivers for change toward a biorefinery solution in the forest products industry have been recognized, paths to commercial products are not well developed (Hänninen et al 2014;Marinova et al 2014;Novotny and Laestadius 2014;Pätäri et al 2016).…”

Trade-Offs between Economic and Environmental Optimization of the Forest Biomass Generation Supply Chain in Inner Mongolia, China

“…For the unit chipping cost, the variation of supply cost and CO 2 emissions correlated negatively with the unit chipping cost; when the unit chipping cost decreased by 14.7%, the supply cost decreased by 3.6% while the CO 2 emissions increased by 0.8%. A similar sensitivity analysis was conducted on the profitability of the biomass supply chain in [16] which examined the optimal solution to the variation in the demand and price of products, as well as the availability and the cost of forest residue. This paper differed from those aforementioned studies in that only the transportation distance and unit chipping cost were selected to conduct the sensitivity analysis based on the largest percentage of supply cost and CO 2 emissions.…”

A Multilayer Model Predictive Control Methodology Applied to a Biomass Supply Chain Operational Level

“…For more detailed information, [28] presented a survey on the models developed for biomass supply chains from an operations research perspective, and [18] presented the modelling approaches to optimize economic, social, and environmental criteria in these supply chains. Furthermore, other optimization procedures have been described in the literature for not only the operational but also tactical and strategic levels [29][30][31].…”