Biomass Feedstock Supply Chain Research Articles

A Stochastic Techno-Economic Analysis of Forest Biomass Feedstock Supply Chains: Clean and Dirty Chips for Bioenergy Applications

A Stochastic Techno-Economic Analysis of Forest Biomass Feedstock Supply Chains: Clean and Dirty Chips for Bioenergy Applications

Towards a Bioeconomy: Supplying Forest Residues for the Australian Market

Australia has abundant volumes of forest residues that are a potential feedstock for supplying biomass as a renewable carbon carrier to the market. However, there remains an underutilization of this resource, even in mature bioeconomy markets. Several existing or perceived barriers can be attributed to the underdeveloped, forest-based bioeconomy in Australia. One of these is the limited understanding of feedstock supply costs. In this study, two ranking approaches were applied to identify the optimal biomass feedstock supply chain from field to conversion plant gate. A panel of experts embedded in the Australian bioeconomy were employed to first assign ranks to biomass supply chain items by cost intensity. Then, a layer of analytic hierarchical process (AHP) was used to weigh and rank various biomass supply pathways by efficiency. The results reveal that biomass extraction ranks the highest and biomass feedstock storage ranks the lowest, relative to other supply chain costs. Extracting and chipping material in the field attracted the most support from the experts in terms of efficiency, followed by transporting and chipping at the roadside and, finally, transporting and chipping at the conversion plant. This study provides insights for designers of the forest-based bioeconomy in Australia into relative cost drivers that may be applied to investment and industry decisions. It also provides a framework to support further investigations into forest biomass development and the management of biomass as a renewable carbon carrier at a time when Australia is transitioning from an energy policy focused on fossil fuels to a renewable energy strategy.

SUPPLY CHAINS FOR VALORIZATION OF OLIVE GROVE RESIDUES AND OLIVE OIL INDUSTRY BY-PRODUCTS: A REVIEW ON RESEARCH AND LITERATURE ON OLIVE BASED BIOECONOMY

The residual biomass produced in the olive sector is the result of the large quantity of olive groves and olive oil manufacturers that generate byproducts with a potentially high energy content. Until now, the disposal and management of pruning residues and olive oil by-products has generally represented disposal problems which lead to environmental problems rather than opportunities for additional revenue. In this context, this study aimed to define a roadmap for studies in Turkey to untap the potential of olive grove residues and olive oil industry by-products and residues, (i.e., olive tree prunings, olive leaves, olive pomace) that could be used to produce high-added value products in an integrated biorefinery or in a bioenergy power plant. This paper presents a review on recent research on the valorization of olive by-products in line with the circular economy principles and the bioeconomy strategy and presents the literature which applies to design and management of olive biomass supply chains. Main objective is to provide a conceptual framework for developing and deploying an effective bioeconomy utilizing olive prunings and olive oil industry byproducts conducting a preliminary review of the olive oil chain residues in Europe and Turkey comparatively, assessment of technical potentials, biomass supply costs and allocation of biomass collection sites and energy production facilities with different supply chain scenarios. Biomass resource assessment, biomass feedstock supply chain design and management, and logistics optimization require multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches. They need to be carried out properly in order to execute efficient projects in energy generation from biomass and/or extracting bio-commodities in biorefineries. Turkish researchers have adequate research on valorization methods for olive based biomass resources, but their studies are limited on general biomass supply chain design and particularly no research has been conducted for olive biomass resources. Taking all the aforementioned into account, the author proposes to conduct further studies on a biomass energy project including design of a supply chain network for energy valorization of olive grove residues and olive oil industry by-products in line with the common practice and being inspired by the leading countries like Spain and Italy, which will both contribute to circular business concept development and renewable energy capacity increase.

Economic feasibility of forest biomass feedstock supply chains: clean and dirty chips for bioenergy applications

AbstractThere is a lack of economic feasibility analyses on the harvesting of forest biomass to supply low‐carbon bioenergy feedstocks using actual data on the mixed product harvest in the hardwood region of the northeast USA. This study is a techno‐economic analysis of three different scenarios (clean chips, dirty chips, or pulpwood) based on data collected from whole‐tree harvesting systems over 6 years. Each scenario had two different cases: one with costs and revenues allocated by mass (allocated system), and the other without allocation (whole system). The six cases of three scenarios tested resulted in a wide range of positive net present values (NPVs) from $1 713 000 to $819 in US dollars. Clean chip production generated substantial NPVs and dirty chips generated marginal NPVs. The minimum selling prices (MSPs) of clean chips from two cases were similar, $45.92 and $45.55 per green metric ton (Mg), with maximum hauling distances (MHDs) of 247 and 250 km (km). The MSPs for dirty chips from four cases ranged from $34.38 to $37.47 per Mg with the range of MHDs from 184 to 351 km. MSP and sensitivity analyses suggest that the selling prices and harvesting production levels of clean chips and dirty chips, and purchase prices of forestry logging equipment are the key factors that most influence the profitability of the regional forest biomass feedstock supply chain. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Optimization of harvest and logistics for multiple lignocellulosic biomass feedstocks in the northeastern United States

A mixed-integer linear programming model was developed to optimize the multiple biomass feedstock supply chains, including feedstock establishment, harvest, storage, transportation, and preprocessing. The model was applied for analyses of multiple biomass feedstocks at county level for 13 states in the northeastern United States. In the base case with a demand of 180,000 dry Mg/year of biomass, the delivered costs ranged from $67.90 to $86.97 per dry Mg with an average of $79.58/dry Mg. The biomass delivered costs by county were from $67.90 to 150.81 per dry Mg across the northeastern U.S. Considered the entire study area, the delivered cost averaged $85.30/dry Mg for forest residues, $84.47/dry Mg for hybrid willow, $99.68 for switchgrass and $97.87 per dry Mg for Miscanthus. Seventy seven out of 387 counties could be able to deliver biomass at $84 per dry Mg or less a target set by US DOE by 2022. A sensitivity analysis was also conducted to evaluate the effects of feedstock availability, feedstock price, moisture content, procurement radius, and facility demand on the delivered cost. Our results showed that procurement radius, facility capacity, and forest residue availability were the most sensitive factors affecting the biomass delivered costs.

Cost and profit impacts of modifying stover harvest operations to improve feedstock quality

AbstractBiomass quality attributes, and the potential tractability of those attributes, are key to a successful biomass feedstock supply chain, in addition to quantity and price. Modifying harvest operations is one potential approach to managing biomass feedstock quality for corn stover. For example, eliminating raking from stover harvest operations is proposed as an approach to reduce ash content. However, changes in the stover harvest configuration cause changes in per acre profits, per ton costs, and available supply at specified prices. Here we evaluate sensitivity of profit, cost, and supply to conversion from a three‐pass to a two‐pass stover harvesting configuration as a means to reduce ash content. For all simulated yields, harvest costs are $2–$3 per ton cheaper for three‐pass versus two‐pass systems wherever residue retention coefficients are less than 0.5, and per ton costs for both systems increase dramatically where residue retention coefficients are greater than 0.7. Per acre net returns are greater under all simulated yields wherever residue sustainability retention coefficients are less than 0.6. Under these conditions, farmers lose between $13 and $49 per acre by harvesting with a two‐pass rather than a three‐pass system. Where competing with stover markets with less stringent quality specifications, meeting ash targets by harvesting with a two‐pass system may require higher grower payments of the order of $9–$25 per ton to make up for the per acre lost revenue. When solving for the least‐cost supply, agronomic simulations suggest about 2/3 of stover is harvested with a three‐pass system. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Biomass feedstock supply chain design – a taxonomic review and a decomposition-based methodology

In this paper, we present a taxonomic review of the literature devoted to the use of operations research approaches for the design and operation of biomass feedstock supply chains (BFSCs). A total of 185 publications that have appeared from 1989 to 2017 are classified based on (1) the embedded optimisation subproblems; (2) the modelling methodologies used for their formulations; and (3) the methods employed for their solution. Our objective of using this classification scheme is to highlight the presence of some useful substructures in a BFSC problem that can, then, be exploited in developing its solution procedure. We illustrate this idea on some generic BFSC problems and present a Dantzig–Wolfe decomposition-based methodology for developing customised approaches to effectively tackle these difficult and large-sized BFSC problems. Finally, we suggest several promising future research directions.

Biomass feedstock supply chain network design with biomass conversion incentives

Biomass has the potential to create sustainable energy systems, which is critical for societal welfare. A major issue regarding biomass resources is crop residues or leftover biomass that is burnt by farmers after harvesting; this happens due to high transportation costs which make burning the cheapest way to remove the residue. We develop a decision support system using a large-scale linear program with the goal of maximizing profit with and without the emission cost. This system helps identify farms that would benefit society were they to be incentivized under a biomass crop assistance program (BCAP). A case study of leftover corn stover in the state of North Dakota is analyzed to validate the model. Our results reveal that an incentive of $7.20 per ton of corn stover converted to ethanol when 20% of rail capacity is allocated is ideal, as it produces the lowest emissions of 16,784,953 metric tons with a $73,462,599 profit. Furthermore, penalizing emissions resulting from the transportation of corn stover also helps reduce emissions; a suitable value for the penalty could be $71.7 per metric ton of CO2 emitted. Such a policy would result in reducing dependency on petroleum, thus promoting a sustainable biomass supply chain.

Supply chain model to assess the feasibility of incorporating a terminal between forests and biorefineries

This study examines the advantages of incorporating a terminal for forest biomass in an advanced biofuels supply chain network. Forest biomass as a feedstock is non-uniform, voluminous and high in moisture content (MC). This leads to inefficiencies during transportation and energy conversion process, posing a challenge for supply chains to remain profitable. The problem is exacerbated by seasonality in both supply and demand. A terminal in the biomass feedstock supply chain could help overcome these challenges, but adds a significant cost. A novel multi-period mixed-integer programming (MIP) model capable of taking into consideration biomass quality, seasonality, and weather related supply restrictions was developed. The model was applied in a case study to assess the benefits of incorporating a terminal in the supply chain. It was demonstrated that a terminal allowed delivery of feedstock 4–11% lower in MC, while reducing procurement costs by 11–32%. The benefits reported are sensitive to transportation and operating costs. The proposed model will serve as a valuable tool for practitioners to design supply chains, and assess the feasibility of using forest biomass for sustainable biofuels production.

A Linear Programming Optimization Model of Woody Biomass Logistics Integrating Infield Drying as a Cost-Saving Preprocess in Michigan

Abstract Because of the greater demand in using woody biomass for bioenergy and bio-based products, feedstock supply chain optimization becomes more important to decrease supply chain logistics costs. As a primary component in the biomass feedstock supply chain, the storage of harvested woody biomass can directly affect transportation cost, biomass quality, and combustion efficiency. An improved operations system structured with linear programming was developed for minimizing the total cost of woody biomass preprocessing, storage, and transportation. The improved operations system was applied in a simulated case study for a power plant in Michigan. In addition, a simulated second feedstock end user was added to the operations system to further test the model. The results showed that the improved operations system could lower supply chain logistics costs, improve feedstock quality, and simultaneously meet the feedstock end user's demand. The sensitivity analysis indicated that the additional profit from se...

Techno-economic analysis of decentralized biomass processing depots

Decentralized biomass processing facilities, known as biomass depots, may be necessary to achieve feedstock cost, quantity, and quality required to grow the future U.S. bioeconomy. In this paper, we assess three distinct depot configurations for technical difference and economic performance. The depot designs were chosen to compare and contrast a suite of capabilities that a depot could perform ranging from conventional pelleting to sophisticated pretreatment technologies. Our economic analyses indicate that depot processing costs are likely to range from ∼US$30 to US$63 per dry metric tonne (Mg), depending upon the specific technology implemented and the energy consumption for processing equipment such as grinders and dryers. We conclude that the benefits of integrating depots into the overall biomass feedstock supply chain will outweigh depot processing costs and that incorporation of this technology should be aggressively pursued.

Supply vs demand

Increasingly, the biomass feedstock supply chain is subject to the volatility of a global marketplace and unpredictable environment. As such, mitigating these risks is crucial to securing the funding to keep bioenergy alive.

Preliminary evaluation of a short rotation forestry poplar biomass supply chain in Emilia Romagna Region

Woody Biomasses (from agriculture and forestry activities) are among the most promising renewable energy sources. Current literature describes woody biomass feedstock supply chains supporting biofuels and utilities industries: the potentially productive land area overheads required for biomass production may results in a complex logistic within the whole chain. Its effective enhancement requires significant changes in the logistics environment of energy plants for sustainable energy production and the sequence-dependent procurement chains for biomasses furthermore complicate these changes. According to this, optimizing harvesting and supplying operations turns out to be strategic within the framework of the current energy policy. In this work we present a case study carried out monitoring 57 short rotation forestry (SRF) production sites placed in Emilia Romagna Region, Northern Italy, all supplying the harvested biomass to the same biomass power plant placed in the province of Ravenna (Italy). The overall average yield of these sites was 55 t/ha, the site surfaces ranged from 0.3 to 20 hectares and the distance from the power plant ranged between 8.2 to 102 km with one production site only within 10 km from the power plant. Harvest and transport costs were calculated according to two different harvesting scenarios: i) single phase harvesting (one cutting/chopping machine + tractors and trailers); ii) double phase harvesting (cutting/mowing machine followed after 80 days by chopping machine + tractors and trailers). Results show that, according to the first scenario, at increasing distances overall harvesting and transport costs ranged from 8.9 to 21.0 ± 1.3 􀀍/t (average ± standard deviation), while, with reference to the second scenario, they increased from 10.3 to 23.8 ± 1.5 􀀍/t with the transportation costs accounting from 16 to almost 70% of the total costs.

Preliminary evaluation of a short rotation forestry poplar biomass supply chain in Emilia Romagna Region

Woody Biomasses (from agriculture and forestry activities) are among the most promising renewable energy sources. Current literature describes woody biomass feedstock supply chains supporting biofuels and utilities industries: the potentially productive land area overheads required for biomass production may results in a complex logistic within the whole chain. Its effective enhancement requires significant changes in the logistics environment of energy plants for sustainable energy production and the sequence-dependent procurement chains for biomasses furthermore complicate these changes. According to this, optimizing harvesting and supplying operations turns out to be strategic within the framework of the current energy policy. In this work we present a case study carried out monitoring 57 short rotation forestry (SRF) production sites placed in Emilia Romagna Region, Northern Italy, all supplying the harvested biomass to the same biomass power plant placed in the province of Ravenna (Italy). The overall average yield of these sites was 55 t/ha, the site surfaces ranged from 0.3 to 20 hectares and the distance from the power plant ranged between 8.2 to 102 km with one production site only within 10 km from the power plant. Harvest and transport costs were calculated according to two different harvesting scenarios: i) single phase harvesting (one cutting/chopping machine + tractors and trailers); ii) double phase harvesting (cutting/mowing machine followed after 80 days by chopping machine + tractors and trailers). Results show that, according to the first scenario, at increasing distances overall harvesting and transport costs ranged from 8.9 to 21.0 ± 1.3 􀀍/t (average ± standard deviation), while, with reference to the second scenario, they increased from 10.3 to 23.8 ± 1.5 􀀍/t with the transportation costs accounting from 16 to almost 70% of the total costs.

Paving the way for sustainable bioenergy in Europe: Technological options and research avenues for large-scale biomass feedstock supply

Meeting future policy targets for bioenergy development worldwide poses major challenges for biomass feedstock supply chains in terms of competitiveness, reliability and sustainability. This paper reviews current knowledge on the sustainability of agricultural feedstock supply chains and emphasize future research needs. It covers annual and perennial feedstocks, and environmental, economic and social aspects. Knowledge gaps and technological options to assess and meet sustainability criteria are reviewed from plot to landscape and global scales. Bioenergy feedstocks present a wide range of dry matter yields, agricultural input requirements and environmental impacts, depending on crop type, management practices, and soil and climate conditions. Their integration into farmers' cropping systems poses specific challenges in terms of environmental impacts, but also opportunities for improvements via the use of grass-legume intercropping or residues from biomass conversion processes. Taking into account the spatial distribution of bioenergy crops is paramount to assessing their environmental impacts, in particular on biodiversity, or the food versus energy competition issue. However, few modelling frameworks convey the full complexity of the underlying processes and drivers, whether economic, social or biophysical. In particular, social impacts of bioenergy projects are seldom assessed and there is no methodological consensus. The main research areas identified involve: multi-crop and multi-site experiments, along with modelling, to optimise management practices and cropping systems producing bioenergy, possibly on alternative lands and under future climate changes; the design of innovative cropping systems using expert knowledge to ensure suitable integration into farmers' cropping systems; the collection of detailed data on the location of bioenergy crops to validate theoretical modelling frameworks and improve sustainability assessment; tackling direct and indirect effects of bioenergy development on land-use changes via coupled economic and agronomical models; investigating the effect of perennial stands on biodiversity in relation to previous land-use and landscape structure; and further developing currently-available methodologies to fully appraise the social implications of bioenergy projects.