LAPSE:2018.0939
Published Article
LAPSE:2018.0939
Quantifying the Impact of Feedstock Quality on the Design of Bioenergy Supply Chain Networks
Krystel K. Castillo-Villar, Hertwin Minor-Popocatl, Erin Webb
November 27, 2018
Logging residues, which refer to the unused portions of trees cut during logging, are important sources of biomass for the emerging biofuel industry and are critical feedstocks for the first-type biofuel facilities (e.g., corn-ethanol facilities). Logging residues are under-utilized sources of biomass for energetic purposes. To support the scaling-up of the bioenergy industry, it is essential to design cost-effective biofuel supply chains that not only minimize costs, but also consider the biomass quality characteristics. The biomass quality is heavily dependent upon the moisture and the ash contents. Ignoring the biomass quality characteristics and its intrinsic costs may yield substantial economic losses that will only be discovered after operations at a biorefinery have begun. This paper proposes a novel bioenergy supply chain network design model that minimizes operational costs and includes the biomass quality-related costs. The proposed model is unique in the sense that it supports decisions where quality is not unrealistically assumed to be perfect. The effectiveness of the proposed methodology is proven by assessing a case study in the state of Tennessee, USA. The results demonstrate that the ash and moisture contents of logging residues affect the performance of the supply chain (in monetary terms). Higher-than-target moisture and ash contents incur in additional quality-related costs. The quality-related costs in the optimal solution (with final ash content of 1% and final moisture of 50%) account for 27% of overall supply chain cost. Based on the numeral experimentation, the total supply chain cost increased 7%, on average, for each additional percent in the final ash content.
Keywords
bioenergy, bioethanol, Biomass, logging residues, logistics, Optimization, quality costing, supply chain network design
Subject
Suggested Citation
Castillo-Villar KK, Minor-Popocatl H, Webb E. Quantifying the Impact of Feedstock Quality on the Design of Bioenergy Supply Chain Networks. (2018). LAPSE:2018.0939
Author Affiliations
Castillo-Villar KK: Mechanical Engineering Department, The University of Texas at San Antonio, One UTSA Circle, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA [ORCID]
Minor-Popocatl H: Engineering Department, Polytechnic University of Tulancingo, Calle IngenierĂ­as #100, Col. Huapalcalco, Hidalgo 43629, Mexico
Webb E: Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, One Bethel Valley Rd., Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA [ORCID]
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Journal Name
Energies
Volume
9
Issue
3
Article Number
E203
Year
2016
Publication Date
2016-03-16
Published Version
ISSN
1996-1073
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Original Submission
Other Meta
PII: en9030203, Publication Type: Journal Article
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LAPSE:2018.0939
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doi:10.3390/en9030203
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Nov 27, 2018
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CC BY 4.0
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[v1] (Original Submission)
Nov 27, 2018
 
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Nov 27, 2018
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Original Submitter
Calvin Tsay
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