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Title: Distributed biomass supply chain cost optimization to evaluate multiple feedstocks for a biorefinery

Journal Article · · Applied Energy
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
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Conventional practices of siting all biomass preprocessing operations at the biorefinery is widely believed to be the most cost-effective solution for feedstock supply because of economies of scale. Yet, biomass preprocessing operations could be decentralized by moving the preprocessing operations to distributed biomass preprocessing centers, also known as “depots” located near biomass sources. We present a comparative case study with multiple biomass resources to analyze biorefinery feedstock supply logistics designs having distributed depots and a primary depot co-located with the biorefinery. A mixed-integer linear programming model was developed to simultaneously optimize feedstock sourcing decisions, and optimal preprocessing depot locations and size, utilizing biomass resources from agricultural residue, energy and municipal solid waste to meet carbohydrate specifications and feedstock demand for a biochemical conversion process. Findings from a case study in the US showed that a biorefinery could increase its feedstock supply draw area and supply volume by 57.3%, 177.4% respectively without increasing the feedstock delivered cost by adopting distributed depot-in the feedstock supply chain design. A distributed-depot-based supply chain can be more economical by selecting optimal mix of biomass resource, optimal siting and depot scales during feedstock supply chain design. The results from this study indicate that a biorefinery can utilize dynamic blending to meet the feedstock quality specifications as well as larger supply radius in the distributed depot-based supply chain design to access more available biomass to handle potential feedstock supply uncertainty.

Research Organization:
Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Sustainable Transportation Office. Bioenergy Technologies Office
Grant/Contract Number:
AC07-05ID14517
OSTI ID:
1557240
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1779322
Report Number(s):
INL/JOU-18-52059-Rev000
Journal Information:
Applied Energy, Vol. 254, Issue C; ISSN 0306-2619
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 39 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Related Subjects

09 - BIOMASS FUELS
97 - MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING
Feedstock supply chain
mixed-integer linear programming
supply radius
depot
biomass
dynamic blending