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Supply chain planning for bioenergy and biofuel production from forest-based residues in interior British Columbia : a simulation study

University of British Columbia

This thesis analyzes a forest-based biomass supply chain network considering uncertainties and variations. It is based on the Williams Lake Timber Supply Area (TSA) located in British Columbia, Canada. The network includes: five conversion facilities distributed in three locations, two types of forest-based biomass, sourced from 337 cutblocks, and two types of sawmill residues sourced from three local sawmills. The main objective of this research is to evaluate the supply chain of forest-based residues for bioenergy and biofuel production considering uncertainties and variations. The specific objectives of this research are to: 1) Develop a simulation model to evaluate a forest-based biomass supply chain for bioenergy and biofuel production considering uncertainties and variations; and 2) apply the simulation model to a case study. To achieve the objectives, a discrete-event simulation model is developed using the commercial software Anylogic 7® (Anylogic 7, 2000). Evaluating a network with various supply and demand points, with various biomass types, and a hybrid push-pull biomass flow management distinguishes this work from previous research. The results show the demand is fulfilled to at least 95%, requiring 23 to 24 trucks during the peak season. Furthermore, the cost and CO₂ equivalent emissions vary per location, from $56.52 to $87.36 and from 19.66 to 72.61 (kg/odt), respectively. Long transportation distances and transportation cycle times greatly affected the number of required resources, and consequently the final cost per oven dry tonne. This results in higher costs than similar studies performed in less remote areas. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is performed to evaluate the effect of changes in moisture content and in supply and demand. Extreme changes in biomass supply and demand affected dramatically the demand fulfillment. By increasing the biomass demand 20% while simultaneously decreasing the biomass supply 20%, reduced the demand fulfillment by 23.18%. Finally, this model can be improved in several ways, one of them being by including the possibility of routing between different cutblocks to consolidate biomass pick-ups, therefore increasing the demand fulfillment of the supply chain and possibly reducing costs.

Text

2016-04-26

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/57842

Forestry

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/