Biofuel Supply Chain Design and the Impacts on Transportation Systems and Infrastructure

Abstract

The biofuel production and distribution system is supported by a number of infrastructure subsystems, including agriculture, transportation, water supply, etc., that are interdependent on one another. Transportation of the bulky, low energy density biomass feedstock (and bioethanol) incurs one of the major operational costs in the biofuel supply chain. The large volume of shipping trucks imposes additional pressure on the already congested and aging transportation infrastructure, causing traffic congestion and pavement damage especially in local areas with biorefineries. The resulting transportation impacts and environmental issues may raise community resistance, and could in turn influence refinery location choice and supply chain efficiency. Therefore, the planning of biorefinery locations and biofuel logistics should be made cautiously with a long term objective of establishing a sustainable bioenergy production and distribution system. This chapter extensively discusses the interdependencies between biofuel supply chain and its supporting transportation infrastructure. We will review the methodologies that quantify the bidirectional impacts and incorporate the transportation externalities into integrated system optimization. Insights are drawn upon the studies of sustainable system design.