Method to support the biofuel supplier choice: A LCA approach

Abstract

Many countries like the US, Brazil, Australia, Canada and some European countries have proposed policies to encourage the use of biofuels by the implementation of regulations to encourage their use in the different sectors of the economy. Among them we find the public transport sector. It is still difficult to assess the potential environmental and social benefits of the use of biofuels because they are distributed throughout the supply chain. The way to supply can influence the level of environmental and social impacts. It is possible to observe a gap in supply decision models taking into account the environmental and social impacts in the case of chains of biofuels that are already established. In the case of biodiesel used by a public transport company, its use should represent the maximum of environmental and social benefits. It is therefore possible to put our research question: “What is the ideal way to supply biodiesel to transportation companies considering environmental and social dimensions?”. Our research goal is to provide an evaluation model to support the biodiesel supplier choice decision-making. We expect that the results of our study support the decision making process related to the biodiesel supply for transport companies in Quebec.