Fuzzy Multi-objective Forest Biomass-to-biofuel Facility Location Problem with Social Consideration

Abstract

This study proposes a novel multiple-objective forest biomass-to-biofuel facility location problem with social consideration and uncertainties, which determines locations of forest biomass-to-biofuel facilities so as to satisfy the energy demand, while the scale of facilities is limited. Aside from the two objectives (i.e., minimizing cost and pollution) that were often discussed in previous problems, the problem in this study additionally considers an objective from the social aspect, i.e., maximizing the job opportunity by opening facilities. Furthermore, many uncertain factors may affect the number of days of operating biomass energy facilities as well as biomass production; the demand of biomass energy is uncertain with the unstable price of fossil fuels; and the number of job offers is uncertain. Therefore, we adopt fuzzy theory to add environmental uncertainties in the problem. To solve this problem, we employ the geographic information system to obtain candidate locations of facilities and biomass, and then use fuzzy multiple objective linear programming to solve the problem. From experimental results, the conflict between objectives can be observed.