Circular supply chains for sustainable use of biomass

Abstract

A significant impediment to sustainable biofuel and bioenergy production is deciding between various supply chain designs, available resources, and process technologies, especially when sustainability is a key criterion. To simultaneously address the challenge of continuous waste generation, increasing energy demand, high natural resource consumption, and increasing greenhouse gas emissions, the use of biobased waste should be enhanced. Providing economical and environmentally sustainable solutions for biowaste processing necessitates developing an optimization model for the associated supply chain network. This study creates a mathematical model to optimally plan and integrate biobased waste supply chain components into a coordinated system. The model aligns the purchasing and supply with varying demands, effectively assigns resources to operations, optimizes the production levels, plans delivery through optimal transportation networks, and reduces operational CO₂ emissions from transport and conversion stages in biomass systems. The results indicate that a well-designed supply chain is more cost-effective and efficient, reduces wasted materials, and keeps up with demand fluctuations. It also diminishes the existing risks and identifies the bottlenecks in the network. Furthermore, decentralized biomass treatment allows localized resource valorization and improves supply chain flexibility by lowering emissions and transportation costs. Using smaller geographically dispersed processing units increases system adaptability and mitigates feedstock variability risks. By optimizing energy efficiency and economic viability, this strategy not only reinforces the circular bioeconomy principles but also makes sustainable biomass consumption more feasible and scalable.