Designing a resilient and sustainable biomass supply chain network through the optimization approach under uncertainty and the disruption

Abstract

The main aim of designing a supply chain network (SCN) is to develop chain profitability and customer satisfaction. The appropriate design of this network plays a crucial role in obtaining the goals of the supply chain, in particular, the level of responsiveness and efficiency. This paper reports on designing a resilient and sustainable biomass supply network by an optimization method based on the uncertainty in bio-energy demand and the disruption in the bio-refinery. First, the relation between resilience factors and sustainability indicators is determined by specifying the critical resilience factors and sustainability indicators of the biomass supply chain (BMSC). Then, the practical resilience factors in the BMSC are prioritized through multi-criteria decision method (MCDM). The factors of higher priority are considered in the proposed model. The objective function is of a profit maximization type. A robust approach is proposed for overcoming the uncertainty in bioenergy demand. The results of solving models by General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS) software, are given for representing the model applicability. The sensitivity analysis is carried out to examine whether the amount of residual capacity has changed the impact of the disruption. The applicability of the proposed approach was investigated through a case study in the “SATBA” Organization of Iran.