Opportunities and Challenges in the Design and Analysis of Biomass Supply Chains
Abstract
The biomass supply chain is one of the most critical elements of large scale bioenergy production and in many cases a key barrier for procuring initial funding for new developments on specific energy crops. Most of the large scale productions of liquid biofuels rely on complex transforming chains linked to feed and food markets. The term ’supply chain’ covers various aspects from cultivation and harvesting of the biomass, to treatment, transportation and storage. After the energy conversion, the product must be delivered to final consumption, whether it is in the form of electricity, heat, or more tangible products, such as pellets or ethanol. Effective supply chains are of utmost importance for bioenergy production, as biomass tends to possess challenging spatial distribution and low mass, energy and bulk densities. Additionally, the demand for final products is often dispersed, further complicating the supply chain. The goal of this paper is to introduce key components of biomass supply chains and provide examples of modeling applications available for supply chain investigations. The paper will introduce a concept of integrated supply systems for sustainable biomass trade, followed by three modeling tools developed to help users to understand the factors influencing the biofuel supply chain landscape.more »
- Authors:
-
- Michigan Technological Univ., Houghton, MI (United States). Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- National Inst. of Agricultural Tecnology, Buenos Aires (Argentina)
- Michigan Technological Univ., Houghton, MI (United States). Sustainable Futures Inst.
- Univ. Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianopolis (Brazil). LabTrans
- Lappeenranta Univ. of Technology, Mikkeli (Finland). LUT Savo Sustainable Technologies
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1319198
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1358423
- Report Number(s):
- INL/JOU-15-34569
Journal ID: ISSN 0364-152X
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725; CBET-1140152; AC07-05ID14517
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Environmental Management
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 56; Journal Issue: 6; Journal ID: ISSN 0364-152X
- Publisher:
- Springer
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY; 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; Bioenergy; Supply chain; Transportation; Logistics; Sustainability; Pan American
Citation Formats
Lautala, Pasi T., Hilliard, Michael R., Webb, Erin, Busch, Ingrid, Richard Hess, J., Roni, Mohammad S., Hilbert, Jorge, Handler, Robert M., Bittencourt, Roger, Valente, Amir, and Laitinen, Tuuli. Opportunities and Challenges in the Design and Analysis of Biomass Supply Chains. United States: N. p., 2015.
Web. doi:10.1007/s00267-015-0565-2.
Lautala, Pasi T., Hilliard, Michael R., Webb, Erin, Busch, Ingrid, Richard Hess, J., Roni, Mohammad S., Hilbert, Jorge, Handler, Robert M., Bittencourt, Roger, Valente, Amir, & Laitinen, Tuuli. Opportunities and Challenges in the Design and Analysis of Biomass Supply Chains. United States. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-015-0565-2
Lautala, Pasi T., Hilliard, Michael R., Webb, Erin, Busch, Ingrid, Richard Hess, J., Roni, Mohammad S., Hilbert, Jorge, Handler, Robert M., Bittencourt, Roger, Valente, Amir, and Laitinen, Tuuli. Tue .
"Opportunities and Challenges in the Design and Analysis of Biomass Supply Chains". United States. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-015-0565-2. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1319198.
@article{osti_1319198,
title = {Opportunities and Challenges in the Design and Analysis of Biomass Supply Chains},
author = {Lautala, Pasi T. and Hilliard, Michael R. and Webb, Erin and Busch, Ingrid and Richard Hess, J. and Roni, Mohammad S. and Hilbert, Jorge and Handler, Robert M. and Bittencourt, Roger and Valente, Amir and Laitinen, Tuuli},
abstractNote = {The biomass supply chain is one of the most critical elements of large scale bioenergy production and in many cases a key barrier for procuring initial funding for new developments on specific energy crops. Most of the large scale productions of liquid biofuels rely on complex transforming chains linked to feed and food markets. The term ’supply chain’ covers various aspects from cultivation and harvesting of the biomass, to treatment, transportation and storage. After the energy conversion, the product must be delivered to final consumption, whether it is in the form of electricity, heat, or more tangible products, such as pellets or ethanol. Effective supply chains are of utmost importance for bioenergy production, as biomass tends to possess challenging spatial distribution and low mass, energy and bulk densities. Additionally, the demand for final products is often dispersed, further complicating the supply chain. The goal of this paper is to introduce key components of biomass supply chains and provide examples of modeling applications available for supply chain investigations. The paper will introduce a concept of integrated supply systems for sustainable biomass trade, followed by three modeling tools developed to help users to understand the factors influencing the biofuel supply chain landscape. The final section will concentrate on various aspects of transportation logistics, ranging from alternative modal / multimodal arrangements to introduction of two analytical support tools, one from U.S. and one from Brazil. Conclusions and research recommendations are also outlined to facilitate the future direction for this area of study.},
doi = {10.1007/s00267-015-0565-2},
journal = {Environmental Management},
number = 6,
volume = 56,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Jun 30 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Tue Jun 30 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}
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