Waste biomass-to-energy supply chain management: A critical synthesis

• Published in: Waste management (Elmsford) Vol. 30; no. 10; pp. 1860 - 1870
• Main Authors: Iakovou, E., Karagiannidis, A., Vlachos, D., Toka, A., Malamakis, A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2010; Elsevier
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Biomass; Conservation of Natural Resources - methods; Decision Making, Organizational; Design engineering; Energy use; Energy-Generating Resources - economics; Energy-Generating Resources - standards; Exact sciences and technology; Hierarchies; Management; Organization and Administration - economics; Other wastes and particular components of wastes; Planning Techniques; Pollution; Refuse Disposal - methods; State of the art; Supply chains; Synthesis; Wastes; Fossil fuel; Identification; Biomass; Decision making
• ISSN: 0956-053X; 1879-2456
• DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2010.02.030

The development of renewable energy sources has clearly emerged as a promising policy towards enhancing the fragile global energy system with its limited fossil fuel resources, as well as for reducing the related environmental problems. In this context, waste biomass utilization has emerged as a viable alternative for energy production, encompassing a wide range of potential thermochemical, physicochemical and bio-chemical processes. Two significant bottlenecks that hinder the increased biomass utilization for energy production are the cost and complexity of its logistics operations. In this manuscript, we present a critical synthesis of the relative state-of-the-art literature as this applies to all stakeholders involved in the design and management of waste biomass supply chains (WBSCs). We begin by presenting the generic system components and then the unique characteristics of WBSCs that differentiate them from traditional supply chains. We proceed by discussing state-of-the-art energy conversion technologies along with the resulting classification of all relevant literature. We then recognize the natural hierarchy of the decision-making process for the design and planning of WBSCs and provide a taxonomy of all research efforts as these are mapped on the relevant strategic, tactical and operational levels of the hierarchy. Our critical synthesis demonstrates that biomass-to-energy production is a rapidly evolving research field focusing mainly on biomass-to-energy production technologies. However, very few studies address the critical supply chain management issues, and the ones that do that, focus mainly on (i) the assessment of the potential biomass and (ii) the allocation of biomass collection sites and energy production facilities. Our analysis further allows for the identification of gaps and overlaps in the existing literature, as well as of critical future research areas.