A facility-location model for biofuel plants: Applications in the Colombian context

To reduce the logistical and operating costs for biofuel plants, it is important to make a strategic decision to select the proper site for a new facility. Due to the facility's complexity, the facility-location problem must consider the supply-chain structure, involving the material flow from...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Energy (Oxford) Vol. 72; pp. 476 - 483
Main Authors: Duarte, Alexandra E., Sarache, William A., Costa, Yasel J.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.08.2014
Elsevier
Subjects:
agricultural wastes
Applied sciences
Bioethanol
Coffee cut stem
Colombia
consumers (people)
Decision analysis
Energy
Exact sciences and technology
Facility location
Fuels
linear programming
Materials selection
Mathematical models
Mixed-integer linear programming
operating costs
Optimisation
Plants (organisms)
process design
profitability
Stems
supply chain
Supply chains
Colombia
Facility location
SC
Coffee-CS
MILP
Optimisation
Coffee cut stem
Bioethanol
Mixed-integer linear programming
Modeling
Biofuel
Models
ISSN:0360-5442
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:To reduce the logistical and operating costs for biofuel plants, it is important to make a strategic decision to select the proper site for a new facility. Due to the facility's complexity, the facility-location problem must consider the supply-chain structure, involving the material flow from suppliers to customers. This paper proposes an optimisation framework that combines the process design and configuration of the supply chain using an MILP (mixed-integer linear programming) formulation. The model was applied to locate a second-generation bioethanol plant in Colombia that uses an agricultural residue known as Coffee-CSs (coffee cut stems). The experimental results indicate that placing a processing plant at Ibagué city results in the best profitability. A post-optimisation analysis indicated that even for a long period, the location decision did not change. •An optimisation model to locate biofuel-processing plants is presented.•The model integrates the process design and the supply chain optimisation.•The optimisation process was developed using a feedstock called coffee cut stems.•A sensitivity analysis is presented in order to estimate the variation of benefits.
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ISSN:0360-5442
DOI:10.1016/j.energy.2014.05.069