Abstract
Several optimization models, which consider economic and environmental perspectives, have been developed recently to support the sustainable biomass-to-biofuel supply chain (BBSC) design. All of the economic-environmental optimization models rely on solving long-term planning problems with a conventional hierarchical approach, where tactical decisions are made based on the optimal strategic decisions from the strategic-level model, despite it arousing non-optimal solutions. Moreover, almost all of them have used non-monetary-based environmental indicators, which result in difficulties with clarity when comparing with economic objectives. Therefore, in this work, an effort is made to develop a more reliable planning strategy that offers optimal strategic and tactical decisions simultaneously and maximizes the economic and environmental benefits. Furthermore, the environmental performance of the BBSC has been assessed in terms of monetary value by adopting an ecocost approach after performing an LCA on the system. The integrated model is applied in the real biofuel sector of Ethiopia to optimize the country’s bioethanol and biodiesel supply chain over a 20-year horizon. Despite the abrupt rise in the model size, with it being a real countrywide case with many variables and large quantities of data, an alternative semi-heuristic method that offers a feasible solution to the multi-objective problem is provided.
Highlights
Recent economic trends coupled with the anticipated stringent regulation to blend petroleum products with biofuel will increase the demand for biofuel products in Ethiopia in the near future
This study aims to design and plan a country-level biomass-to-biofuel supply chain (BBSC), taking into account economic-environmental perspectives, multiple time periods and a supply chain from field to product
Compared to the other economic-environmental optimization models developed so far, the novelty of this model lies in the following issues: (1) The formulation of integrated model provides optimal strategic and tactical decisions simultaneously, rather than focusing on a conventional hierarchical approach, in which tactical decisions are made based on the optimal strategic decisions from the strategic-level model, and may arouse a non-optimal, sub-optimal and infeasible solutions
Summary
Recent economic trends coupled with the anticipated stringent regulation to blend petroleum products with biofuel will increase the demand for biofuel products in Ethiopia in the near future. Most of the biofuel demand belongs to the transportation sector. The import of petroleum products accounts for a major share of the total import expenditure and consumes about 70% of the total export earnings of the country. In light of the increasing cost of oil and demand for petroleum products, the Ethiopian government has included the development of biofuel as one of its development strategies since 2007. One of the main reasons that biofuel has been promoted in Ethiopia is to meet the needs of a green economy, which the country has envisaged reaching by 2030.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
