Optimal equipment deployment for biomass terminal operations

This paper investigates the optimization of biomass terminal equipment deployment. A mixed integer linear programming model is developed and applied to minimize the terminal's investment and operational costs related to dedicated and partially used or shared equipment between a terminal's operational steps. The results minimize annual...

Evaluation of wood pellet handling in import terminals

Wood pellet imports are expected to increase in the European Union and Southeast Asia by 2030, considering pellets are the main feedstock used for co-firing in power plants throughout these regions. Due to the material's physical and biological properties, the equipment at an import terminal need to be different than what is used for other...

Exploring policy options to spur the expansion of ethanol production and consumption in Brazil: An agent-based modeling approach

The Brazilian government aims to increase the share of biofuels in the energy mix to around 18% by 2030, which implies an increase of ethanol production from currently 27 bln liters to over 50 bln liters per year. Biofuel policies play an important role in ethanol production, consumption, and investment in processing capacity. Nevertheless, a...

A conceptual framework for the analysis of the effect of institutions on biofuel supply chains

The economic performance of biofuels supply chains depends on the interaction of technical characteristics as technological pathways and logistics, and social structures as actor behavior, their interactions and institutions. Traditional approaches focus on the technical problems only. Little attention has been paid to the institutional...

Exploring path dependence, policy interactions, and actor behavior in the German biodiesel supply chain

Biofuel production is not cost competitive and thus requires governmental intervention. The effect of the institutional framework on the development of the biofuel sector is not yet well understood. This paper aims to analyze how biofuel production and production capacity could have evolved in Germany in the period 1992–2014. The effects of...