EUBCE 2026 - Tunhsiang YU - The Economic Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment of the Biofuel Supply Chains from Forest Residues under Alternative Preprocessing Technologies

The Economic Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment of the Biofuel Supply Chains from Forest Residues under Alternative Preprocessing Technologies

Short Introductive summary

Transportation fuels derived from biomass can contribute to a nation’s energy security, environmental protection, and rural economies. However, the low density of biomass materials, such as forest residues, is a significant barrier impeding the development of this industry. Incorporating an advanced preprocessing system for raw biomass feedstock sorting, drying, and size reduction in the supply chain could increase a biorefinery’s accessibility to woody biomass and improve logistics efficiency. The efficiency of preprocessing technologies can affect the economics, life cycle of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and placement of the supply chains. The goal of this study is to evaluate the economic and GHG performance of the optimal biofuel supply chains from forest residues under two preprocessing technologies, a) the conventional hammermill and b) the alternative rotary shear Crumbler. The Crumbler utilizes a slicing and cutting action rather than the pounding and tearing action of hammermills for biomass feedstock comminution. Using a spatial mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model that maximizes the total net present value (NPV) of the supply chain profits, we determined the

T. Yu, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA
N. Abdoulmoumine, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA
M. Shah, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA
P. Li, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA
D. Lanning, Forest Concepts, LLC, Auburn, USA