Forest biomass supply logistics for a power plant using the discrete-event simulation approach

This study investigates the logistics of supplying forest biomass to a potential power plant. Due to the complexities in such a supply logistics system, a simulation model based on the framework of Integrated Biomass Supply Analysis and Logistics (IBSAL) is developed in this study to evaluate the cost of delivered forest biomass, the equilibrium moisture content, and carbon emissions from the logistics operations. The model is applied to a proposed case of 300 MW power plant in Quesnel, BC, Canada. The results show that the biomass demand of the power plant would not be met every year. The weighted average cost of delivered biomass to the gate of the power plant is about C$ 90 per dry tonne. Estimates of equilibrium moisture content of delivered biomass and CO₂ emissions resulted from the processes are also provided.     

Woody biomass in the U.S. Cornbelt? Constraints and opportunities in the supply

The U.S. is clearly entering a new era of liquid fuel production; one that will be characterized by increasing degrees of renewable raw materials. Woody biomass is an especially compelling feedstock choice where available. Significant questions, however, exist regarding the potential of some landscapes to provide this feedstock. In an effort to answer these questions, we performed an exploratory spatial assessment of woody biomass production and supply capabilities in two-ecoregions Mississippi River corridor within the US Cornbelt. We used existing forest/timber inventories and conducted in-depth interviews with large regional sawmills to understand the accessibility of woody biomass from natural forests, availability of and general costs associated with woody biomass in the existing timber industry, and potential for production from short-rotation woody crop plantations. On an annual basis, taking into account only the annual net growth of non-sawlog species the Midwest Driftless Area currently produces 3.14 times the raw material required by a hypothetical facility using one-half million dry tons of woody biomass per year. Although allocated over a larger area, the Central Dissected Till Plain produces 3.94 times the required material. Throughout the entire region there would be an additional lower bound estimate of 107,000 dry Mg from easily transportable sawmill residues. The ecological state of US Cornbelt forests stand to gain from a developed market for woody biomass as proper woodland management to harvest trees, preserve wildlife, and reduce risk from disease, pests, and invasive species typically involves harvesting the low-value trees that will by and large drive the woody biomass system.     

Supply of biomass, bioenergy, and carbon mitigation: Method and application

This study develops an analytical framework for deriving the supply of biomass feedstock and subsequently electricity and CO₂ displacement generated from the biomass. This systematic approach minimizes the total cost of both feedstock and electricity production and involves the determination of the optimal power plant size and the derivation of the supply curves. The analytical framework is applied to the case of logging residues in the US. Both the theoretical and empirical results point to the importance of simultaneously considering feedstock production, energy conversion, and environmental benefits/costs in bioenergy project development, leading to useful policy implications for bioenergy development and deployment.     

Decision hierarchy,competitive priorities and indicators in large-scale ‘herbaceous biomass to energy’ supply chains

In this study we focus on herbaceous biomass, and particularly on the supply chains organised to deliver feedstock to biorefineries. We look at the supply chain as a whole and examine what organisational capabilities (competitive priorities) large-scale herbaceous biomass supply chains (LHBSC) should possess to achieve an appropriate level of sustainable competitive advantage. Supply chain of herbaceous biomass-based CHP is used as a model. In addition to these, we also present specific applicability issues to other herbaceous biomass supply chains. We identified three principal competitive priorities: cost efficiency, reliability of supply and sustainability. However, to be able to develop these competitive priorities, quality and flexibility, as well as information sharing, innovation and a strong proclivity to cooperate are also essential. In addition, we have pointed out the importance of competitive priorities in decision making by proposing appropriate indicators to measure them and by constructing a decision hierarchy relevant to biomass-to-energy supply chains.     

Supply assessment of forest biomass – A bottom-up approach for Sweden

As there is increasing interest in the use of biomass for energy in Sweden, the potential availability and harvesting costs of forest roundwood, harvesting residues and stumps were estimated up to the year 2069 in 10-year intervals, using a high spatial resolution GIS. In each individual forest area, an average harvesting cost per forest assortment was estimated, based on the geographic and other properties of the area. Using cost structure and resource availability, marginal cost curves were constructed to allow analyses of the effects of changing market conditions and different policy frameworks. Based on geographically explicit data, the results indicated that the average harvesting costs would be 21–24 € m⁻³ for roundwood, depending on the type of harvesting and extraction operation. The corresponding cost estimate for harvesting residues was 23–25 € m⁻³ and 35 € m⁻³ for stumps. The harvesting cost estimates lie on the steeper part of the marginal cost curve, suggesting that increases in the supply of woody biomass can only occur at significantly higher harvesting costs. From a policy perspective, this suggests that subsidies aimed at reducing the harvesting costs will only have limited success in increasing the harvested volumes, given current technology. Therefore, for future development in the supply of forest assortments for energy generation, it is important to consider not only the supply potential, but also the integration of improvements in harvesting and transportation systems.     

A supply chain analysis framework for assessing state-level forest biomass utilization policies in the United States

The number of state policies aimed at fostering biomass utilization has proliferated in recent years in the United States. Several states aim to increase the use of forest and agriculture biomass through renewable energy production. Several more indirectly encourage utilization by targeting aspects of the supply chain from trees standing in the forest to goods sold. This research classifies 370 state policies from across the United States that provides incentives for forest biomass utilization. We compare those policies by types of incentives relative to the supply chain and geographic clustering. We then develop a framework for policy evaluation building on the supply chain steps, which can be used to assess intended and unintended consequences of policy interactions. These findings may inform policy development and identify synergies at different steps in the supply chain to enhance forest biomass utilization.     

Evolutionary algorithms approach for integrated bioenergy supply chains optimization

In this paper, we propose an optimization model and solution approach for designing and evaluating integrated system of bioenergy production supply chains, SC, at the local level. Designing SC that simultaneously utilize a set of bio-resources together is a complicated task, considered here. The complication arises from the different nature and sources of bio-resources used in bioenergy production i.e., wet, dry or agriculture, industrial etc. Moreover, the different concerns that decision makers should take into account, to overcome the tradeoff anxieties of the socialists and investors, i.e., social, environmental and economical factors, was considered through the options of multi-criteria optimization. A first part of this research was introduced in earlier research work explaining the general Bioenergy Decision System gBEDS [Ayoub N, Martins R, Wang K, Seki H, Naka Y. Two levels decision system for efficient planning and implementation of bioenergy production. Energy Convers Manage 2007;48:709–23]. In this paper, brief introduction and emphasize on gBEDS are given; the optimization model is presented and followed by a case study on designing a supply chain of nine bio-resources at Iida city in the middle part of Japan.     

Supply chain optimization of residual forestry biomass for bioenergy production: The case study of Portugal

Within a large set of renewable energies being explored to tackle energy sourcing problems, bioenergy can represent an attractive solution if effectively managed. The supply chain design supported by mathematical programming can be used as a decision support tool to the successful bioenergy production systems establishment. This strategic decision problem is addressed in this paper where we intent to study the design of the residual forestry biomass to bioelectricity production in the Portuguese context. In order to contribute to attain better solutions a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model is developed and applied in order to optimize the design and planning of the bioenergy supply chain. While minimizing the total supply chain cost the production energy facilities capacity and location are defined. The model also includes the optimal selection of biomass amounts and sources, the transportation modes selection, and links that must be established for biomass transportation and products delivers to markets. Results illustrate the positive contribution of the mathematical programming approach to achieve viable economic solutions. Sensitivity analysis on the most uncertain parameters was performed: biomass availability, transportation costs, fixed operating costs and investment costs.     

Industrial supply chains and production machinery of forest chips in Finland

Metsäteho Oy surveyed the industrial supply chains used in the production of forest chips in 2006 in Finland. The Metsäteho study also conducted a survey of the production machinery of forest chips used by energy plants in 2007, and provided an estimate of industrial supply chains and future machinery requirements for forest chip production in Finland.The majority of the logging residue chips and chips from small-sized thinning wood were produced using the roadside chipping supply chain in 2006. The chipping at plant supply chain was also significant in the production of logging residue chips. The majority of all stump wood chips consumed were comminuted at the plant, and with only around one fifth comminuted at terminals. The role of the terminal chipping supply chain was also significant in the production of chips from logging residues and small-sized wood chips. It was predicted that the roles of both terminal chipping of logging residues and chipping at the plant will increase by the year 2010. Regarding the production of chips from small-diameter wood, it was estimated that the role of chipping at the plant will also increase in coming years. The proportion of roadside chipping in the production of small-sized wood chips and logging residue chips is expected to decrease.The study estimated that a total of 1100 machine and truck units were employed in the production of forest chips for energy plants in 2007. Increasing forest chip consumption will create considerable demand for additional forest chip production resources in the future.     

Woody biomass supply potential for thermal power plants in Japan

Biomass energy is one of mitigation method of CO₂ reduction. In Japan, it aimed to reduce fossil fuels supply 670,000 kL of crude oil equivalent in thermal power plants and 340,000 kL of crude oil equivalent in the utilization of heat by biomass. It was decided to use 25% or more of the forestry products such as logging residues. Japanese government aim to supply 634 PJ of woody biomass for power generation in 2010. This amount of energy accounts for 2.8% of total primary energy. More than 68% of Japan is covered by forests, and more than 40% of these forests are plantations. But the use of woody biomass is limited because it is still not seen as economically viable. In this article, we developed a large scale forestry economic model which can estimate the wood chips supply for coal thermal power plants across all around Japan. By using this model, wood chips supply potential is currently 32,000 m³/year and supply will increase drastically when wood chips price increase or carbon credit is installed and we found that biomass production of 15 PJ that is the numeric target of Japanese government is possible. Especially, the lengthening of rotation period of forestry and the decrease of wood chips transportation cost is important for wood chips use in coal thermal plant.     

Decision support system integrating GIS with simulation and optimisation for a biofuel supply chain

A range of economic and societal issues has resulted from fossil fuel consumption in the transportation sector in the U.S. These include health related air pollution, climate change, dependence on imported oil, and other oil related national security concerns. Biofuels production from various lignocellulosic biomass types, such as wood, forest residues, and agriculture residues, have the potential to replace a portion of the total fossil fuel consumption. This study focused on locating biofuel facilities and designing the biofuel supply chain to minimise the overall cost. For this purpose, an integrated methodology was proposed by combining the Geographic Information System technology with simulation and optimisation modelling methods. The GIS-based method was used as a precursor for selecting biofuel facility locations by employing a series of decision factors. The identified candidate sites for biofuel production served as inputs for simulation and optimisation modelling. The simulation/optimisation model and identified locations provided an integrated decision support system for decision makers to determine the optimal cost, energy consumption, and emissions for candidate locations. This novel methodology development extends prior research.     

Combined production of second-generation biofuels and electricity from sugarcane residues

This paper describes a preliminary analysis of two technological routes (based on hydrolysis and on gasification + Fischer–Tropsch conversion process) of biofuels production from cellulosic materials. In this paper it was considered the integration of the two alternative routes to a conventional distillery of ethanol production based on fermentation of sugarcane juice. Sugarcane bagasse is the biomass considered as input in both second-generation routes. Results show that the integration of gasification + FT process to a conventional distillery is slightly more efficient (from an energetic point of view) and also offers the advantage of products diversification (ethanol from the conventional plant, plus diesel, gasoline and more surplus electricity regarding the hydrolysis route). Considering typical Brazilian conditions, at this stage it is not possible to foresee any significant advantage of any of the alternatives, but potentially the gasification route would have an advantage regarding avoided GHG emissions depending on the emission factor of the electric sector in which cogeneration units will be installed.     

Nutrient fertilizer requirements for sustainable biomass supply to meet U.S. bioenergy goal

The U.S. Biomass Roadmap set forth a goal that, by the year 2030, biomass will supply energy approximately equivalent to 30% of current petroleum consumption. Here we report on the amount of nutrient fertilizers required to meet the proposed 1-billion tons of sustainable bioenergy biomass production annually. To meet this goal, U.S. agriculture (assuming a scenario with high yield increase and land use change) will have net removals of 40.3, 12.7, and 36.2 Tg (million tons) of N, P₂O₅, and K₂O, respectively. The 1-billion tons of bioenergy biomass production alone will remove 16.9, 5.2, and 18.2 Tg of N, P₂O_5, and K₂O, respectively, from U.S. agricultural land. Considering the efficiencies of fertilizers in soils and the contribution of biomass residuals in fields, the overall bioenergy-focused agriculture would require 58.2, 27.3, and 31.7 Tg of N, P₂O_5, and K₂O fertilizers, respectively; this corresponds to an overall nutrient fertilizer application increase by a factor of 5.5 over the base line (1997). This study indicates an increased need for domestic and/or international production facilities for fertilizers if the goal of the Biomass Roadmap is to be attained.     

Comparison of biomass feedstock supply and demand in Northeast Italy

This study uses Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to estimate woody biomass supply and demand in Northeast Italy. Demand is estimated using census data on boilers and supply calculations are derived from data on timber harvests and mill operations. The analysis is done with GIS using Large Scale Analysis at a broader resolution (for the entire region) and Small Scale Analysis at a finer resolution (for the Primiero valley only), with added information on tree species, road networks and logging systems. From large scale analysis demand results to be about 163 000 MWh, corresponding to about 71 000 tonnes per year of fuel, with a moisture content of 50 percent. As shown by results from a small scale analysis, the Primiero valley has a deficit of 21 400 MWh. A more thorough analysis shows that 93 percent of logging operations can be performed with cable cranes and that high quality chips derived from forest biomass amount to only 335 MWh of energy (20 percent of the total). The deficit calculated at a small scale confirms the value obtained in the large scale calculation.Analysis of the demand-supply balance will be helpful for decision makers and politicians and should be taken into account when allocating subsidies for new boilers or district heating.     

Barriers and incentives to the production of bioethanol from cereal straw: A farm business perspective

The EU renewable energy directive stipulates a requirement for 10% of transport fuels to be derived from renewable sources by 2020. Second generation biofuels offer potential to contribute towards this target with cereal straw representing a potentially large feedstock source. From an on-farm survey of 240 arable farmers, timeliness of crop establishment and benefits of nutrient retention from straw incorporation were cited as reasons for straw incorporation. However, two-thirds (one-third) of farmers would supply wheat (barley) straw for bioenergy. The most popular contract length and continuous length of straw supply was either 1 or 3 years. Contracts stipulating a fixed area of straw supply for a fixed price were the most frequently cited preferences, with £50 t⁻¹ the most frequently cited minimum contract price that farmers would find acceptable. Arable farmers in England would be willing to sell 2.52 Mt of cereal straw for bioenergy purposes nationally and 1.65 Mt in the main cereal growing areas of Eastern England. Cereal straw would be diverted from current markets or on-farm uses and from straw currently incorporated into soil. Policy interventions may be required to incentivise farmers to engage in this market, but food and fuel policies must increasingly be integrated to meet societal goals.     

生物质的热裂解与热解油的精制

生物质能属于可再生能源，其利用符合社会可持续发展的原则。生物质在中等温度下(约500℃)热裂解主要得到热解油。介绍了温度对热裂解过程的影响、热解油——水的二元相图、热裂解过程的机理和热解油的特性，综述了催化剂种类，溶剂等对热解油催化裂解的影响。结果表明，催化剂H-ZSM-5的脱氧效果最好，以四氢萘为溶剂时，精制油的收率大幅提高，达39．4％。     

Cost estimates of post harvest forest biomass supply for Canada

This study estimates the potential physical amounts and financial costs of post-harvest forest residue biomass supply in Canada. The analyses incorporate the locations of harvest activities in Canada, the geographical variation of forest productivity patterns and the costs associated with the extraction and transportation of residue feedstock to bioenergy facilities. We estimated the availability of harvest residues within the extent of industrial forest management operations in Canadian forests. Our analyses focused on the extraction of biomass from roadside harvest residues that involve four major cost components: pre-piling and aggregation, loading, chipping and transportation. The estimates of residue extraction costs also included representation of basic ecological sustainability and technical accessibility constraints. Annual supply of harvestable residual biomass with these ecological sustainability constraints were estimated to be approximately 19.2–23.3 Tg_*year⁻¹ and 16.5–20.0 Tg_*year⁻¹ in scenarios that included both ecological and technical accessibility limitations. These estimates appear to be less than other similar studies, due to the higher level of spatial details on inventories and ecological and operational constraints in our analyses. The amount of residual biomass available in baseline scenarios at a supply cost of $60 ODT⁻¹ and $80 ODT⁻¹ were 1.08 and 1.38 Tg year⁻¹ and 7.82 and 10.14 Tg year⁻¹ respectively. Decreasing residue extraction costs by 35% increased the amount of residues available at a $60 ODT⁻¹ and $80 ODT⁻¹ supply price by ∼5.5–5.7 and ∼1.5–1.6 times respectively. The assessment methodology is generic and could be extended to examine residue supplies for specialized biomass markets such as lignocellulosic ethanol production.     

生物质热解液化技术经济分析

我国生物质资源十分丰富，但主要以各类农业残余废弃物为主，其特点是能量密度低、分布不集中，如果采用热解液化技术在产地将其先分散转化成生物油，然后再对生物油进行应用或再加工，则就避免了大规模收集和长距离运输生物质所带来的巨大困难。研究分析表明：热解液化设备的规模以每小时可处理2t农业残余废弃物较为适宜，且这种技术在我国具有良好的市场应用前景。     

Hydrogen technology for supply chain sustainability: The Mexican transportation impacts on society

This study sheds light on the Hydrogen technology in transportation for reaching the sustainability goals of societies, illustrated by the case of Mexico. In terms of the affected supply chains the study explores how the packaging and distribution of a fuel-saving tool that allows the adoption of hydrogen as complementary energy for maritime transportation to improve economic and environmental performance in Mexico. This exploratory study performs interviews, observations, simulations, and tests involving producers, suppliers, and users at 26 ports in Mexico. The study shows that environmental and economic performance are related to key processes in Supply Chain Management (SCM) in which packaging and distribution are critical for achieving logistics and transportation sustainability goals. Reusable packaging and the distribution of a fuel-saving tool can help decrease costs -, of transport, and downstream/upstream processes in SCM while at the same time increasing the environmental performance.     

生物质热解液化技术研究现状

对生物质热解液化技术及其液化机理进行阐述,并介绍国内外生物质热解反应器类型及其发展现状,分析热解过程中的影响因素。生物质热解液化技术很大程度上能缓解当今社会的能源危机和环境污染,是人类开发可再生资源的一种有效途径。