A new simulation model for multi-agricultural biomass logistics system in bioenergy production

This paper presents the development of a new logistics model and its application to supply a mixture of agricultural feedstocks to a proposed cellulosic ethanol plant. The new model, IBSAL-MC (Integrated Biomass Supply Analysis &Logistics– Multi Crop), is developed based on the framework of IBSAL. IBSAL-MC is a hybrid push-pull logistics model which pushes the field operations to harvest and collect as much biomass as possible within the harvest season while pulling downstream operations to meet the daily demand of the ethanol plant. The proposed ethanol plant would be located near Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada. Despite the abundance of wheat straw in the region (more than five times the annual demand), the daily demand of the ethanol plant would be fully met for only 104 days. In terms of the total annual demand, only 92% of it would be met. The logistics cost varies between $62.06 and $63.46t−1 with 90% confidence level. The capacity of the required on-farm storage and at-plant storage are estimated at 400 t and 3500 t of biomass, respectively. Several managerial insights were also given to improve the biomass logistics system in terms of demand fulfilment, logistics costs and resource utilisation.