MATHEMATICAL MODELLING OF TECHNOLOGICAL PROCESSES AND SYSTEMS

MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF SUSTAINABLE INTEGRATED BIOETHANOL SUPPLY CHAINS

  • 1 Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Chemical Engineering, Sofia, Bulgaria

Abstract

This paper focuses on designing mathematical model a integrated bioethanol supply chain (IBSC) that will account for economic and environmental aspects of sustainability. A mixed integer linear programming model is proposed to design an optimal IBSC. Bioethanol production from renewable biomass has experienced increased interest in order to reduce Bulgarian dependence on imported oil and reduce carbon emissions. Concerns regarding cost efficiency and environmental problems result in significant challenges that hinder the increased bioethanol production from renewable biomass. The model considers key supply chain activities including biomass harvesting/processing and transportation. The model uses the delivered feedstock cost, energy consumption, and GHG emissions as system performance criteria. The utility of the supply chain simulation model is demonstrated by considering a biomass supply chain for a biofuel facility in Bulgarian scale. The results show that the model is a useful tool for supply chain management, including selection of the optimal bioethanol facility location, logistics design, inventory management, and information exchange.

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