IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v67y2014icp631-640.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The effects of variations in supply accessibility and amount on the economics of using regional forest biomass for generating district heat

Author

Listed:
  • Akhtari, Shaghaygh
  • Sowlati, Taraneh
  • Day, Ken

Abstract

The delivery cost of forest biomass to energy plants is one of the determining factors in feasibility of using forest biomass for heat and power generation. The variability in available forest biomass during the year is another important factor that should be considered in feasibility studies since it affects the design of the supply chain and impacts the total delivery cost of biomass. In this paper, we investigate the feasibility of exploiting regional forest biomass to fulfill the fuel demand of a district heating system in Williams Lake, BC considering the effect of biomass availability throughout the year on the delivery cost of forest biomass, which is often overlooked in previous economic feasibility studies. The monthly availability of forest biomass, namely logging residues and sawmill wastes, is forecasted taking into account the historical harvesting data in the region and also considering the accessibility of supply areas due to weather conditions. Although the annual forest biomass supply exceeded the annual demand, there was a significant gap between supply and demand in some months. Therefore, during the months with supply shortage, it would not be possible to meet the district heating system's demand using direct transport of forest biomass. Meanwhile, excess forest biomass in months with extra supply than demand could be stored for further use in month with supply shortage. This would affect the design of the supply chain, its required logistics and consequently the delivery cost of biomass. We identified three potential designs for the supply chain and the required logistics, and then we calculated the delivery cost of forest biomass for each option in our case study. The results showed significant difference in the delivery cost of forest biomass among the supply chain options. Depending on the supply chain design and the supplier locations, delivering forest biomass to the gate of the heating plant could cost as low as $42.75 Odt−1 ($2.19 GJ−1) for direct flow and as high as $128.47 Odt−1 ($6.59 GJ−1) for flow via storage. This illustrates the importance of considering variations in supply amount and its effect on the supply chain design to be able to provide accurate estimates of the biomass delivery cost. Irrespective of the supply chain design, transportation cost had the highest contribution in the total delivery cost of forest biomass to the plant, followed by loading, chipping, and material cost. For the supply chains with storage option, the contribution of the storage cost was higher than the material cost. The provision cost of natural gas to this district heating system was calculated at $6.93 GJ−1. This indicates that using local forest biomass for generating heat in the district heating system in Williams Lake may be economical depending upon the capital and operating costs of the system.

Suggested Citation

  • Akhtari, Shaghaygh & Sowlati, Taraneh & Day, Ken, 2014. "The effects of variations in supply accessibility and amount on the economics of using regional forest biomass for generating district heat," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 631-640.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:67:y:2014:i:c:p:631-640
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2014.01.092
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544214001145
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2014.01.092?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Delivand, Mitra Kami & Barz, Mirko & Gheewala, Shabbir H., 2011. "Logistics cost analysis of rice straw for biomass power generation in Thailand," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 1435-1441.
    2. Viana, H. & Cohen, Warren B. & Lopes, D. & Aranha, J., 2010. "Assessment of forest biomass for use as energy. GIS-based analysis of geographical availability and locations of wood-fired power plants in Portugal," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(8), pages 2551-2560, August.
    3. Kinoshita, Tsuguki & Inoue, Keisuke & Iwao, Koki & Kagemoto, Hiroshi & Yamagata, Yoshiki, 2009. "A spatial evaluation of forest biomass usage using GIS," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 1-8, January.
    4. Shafie, S.M. & Mahlia, T.M.I. & Masjuki, H.H., 2013. "Life cycle assessment of rice straw co-firing with coal power generation in Malaysia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 284-294.
    5. Perlack, R.D. & Turhollow, A.F., 2003. "Feedstock cost analysis of corn stover residues for further processing," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 28(14), pages 1395-1403.
    6. Ćosić, Boris & Stanić, Zoran & Duić, Neven, 2011. "Geographic distribution of economic potential of agricultural and forest biomass residual for energy use: Case study Croatia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 2017-2028.
    7. van den Broek, R & Teeuwisse, S & Healion, K & Kent, T & van Wijk, A & Faaij, A & Turkenburg, W, 2001. "Potentials for electricity production from wood in Ireland," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 26(11), pages 991-1013.
    8. Rentizelas, Athanasios A. & Tolis, Athanasios J. & Tatsiopoulos, Ilias P., 2009. "Logistics issues of biomass: The storage problem and the multi-biomass supply chain," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 887-894, May.
    9. Gan, Jianbang, 2007. "Supply of biomass, bioenergy, and carbon mitigation: Method and application," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 6003-6009, December.
    10. Difs, Kristina & Danestig, Maria & Trygg, Louise, 2009. "Increased use of district heating in industrial processes - Impacts on heat load duration," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(11), pages 2327-2334, November.
    11. Carolyn Gochenour, 2001. "District Energy Trends, Issues, and Opportunities : The Role of the World Bank," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13903, December.
    12. Chau, J. & Sowlati, T. & Sokhansanj, S. & Preto, F. & Melin, S. & Bi, X., 2009. "Techno-economic analysis of wood biomass boilers for the greenhouse industry," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(3), pages 364-371, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Awais, Fawad & Flodén, Jonas & Svanberg, Martin, 2021. "Logistic characteristics and requirements of Swedish wood biofuel heating plants," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    2. Mosayeb Dashtpeyma & Reza Ghodsi, 2021. "Forest Biomass and Bioenergy Supply Chain Resilience: A Systematic Literature Review on the Barriers and Enablers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-21, June.
    3. Okey Francis Obi & Ralf Pecenka & Michael J. Clifford, 2022. "A Review of Biomass Briquette Binders and Quality Parameters," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-22, March.
    4. Akhtari, Shaghaygh & Sowlati, Taraneh & Griess, Verena C., 2018. "Integrated strategic and tactical optimization of forest-based biomass supply chains to consider medium-term supply and demand variations," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 626-638.
    5. Abbas, Shahbaz & Chiang Hsieh, Lin-Han & Techato, Kuaanan, 2021. "Supply chain integrated decision model in order to synergize the energy system of textile industry from its resource waste," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).
    6. Sarah Mittlefehldt & Erin Bunting & Emily Huff & Joseph Welsh & Robert Goodwin, 2021. "New Methods for Assessing Sustainability of Wood-Burning Energy Facilities: Combining Historical and Spatial Approaches," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-18, November.
    7. Lake, Andrew & Rezaie, Behanz & Beyerlein, Steven, 2017. "Review of district heating and cooling systems for a sustainable future," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 417-425.
    8. Guelpa, Elisa & Verda, Vittorio, 2019. "Thermal energy storage in district heating and cooling systems: A review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 252(C), pages 1-1.
    9. Piwowar, Arkadiusz & Dzikuć, Maciej, 2016. "Outline of the economic and technical problems associated with the co-combustion of biomass in Poland," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 415-420.
    10. Akhtari, Shaghaygh & Sowlati, Taraneh, 2020. "Hybrid optimization-simulation for integrated planning of bioenergy and biofuel supply chains," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    11. Liu, Liansheng & Wang, Dongji & Gao, Liwei & Duan, Runze, 2020. "Distributed heating/centralized monitoring mode of biomass briquette fuel in Chinese northern rural areas," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(P1), pages 1221-1230.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zahraee, Seyed Mojib & Shiwakoti, Nirajan & Stasinopoulos, Peter, 2022. "Application of geographical information system and agent-based modeling to estimate particle-gaseous pollutantemissions and transportation cost of woody biomass supply chain," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 309(C).
    2. Shafie, S.M. & Masjuki, H.H. & Mahlia, T.M.I., 2014. "Rice straw supply chain for electricity generation in Malaysia: Economical and environmental assessment," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 299-308.
    3. Fernando López-Rodríguez & Justo García Sanz-Calcedo & Francisco J. Moral-García, 2019. "Spatial Analysis of Residual Biomass and Location of Future Storage Centers in the Southwest of Europe," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-16, May.
    4. Devlin, Ger & Klvac, Radomir & McDonnell, Kevin, 2013. "Fuel efficiency and CO2 emissions of biomass based haulage in Ireland – A case study," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 55-62.
    5. Shabani, Nazanin & Akhtari, Shaghaygh & Sowlati, Taraneh, 2013. "Value chain optimization of forest biomass for bioenergy production: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 299-311.
    6. Golecha, Rajdeep & Gan, Jianbang, 2016. "Effects of corn stover year-to-year supply variability and market structure on biomass utilization and cost," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 34-44.
    7. Ćosić, Boris & Stanić, Zoran & Duić, Neven, 2011. "Geographic distribution of economic potential of agricultural and forest biomass residual for energy use: Case study Croatia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 2017-2028.
    8. Lourinho, Gonçalo & Brito, Paulo, 2015. "Assessment of biomass energy potential in a region of Portugal (Alto Alentejo)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 189-201.
    9. Batidzirai, B. & Mignot, A.P.R. & Schakel, W.B. & Junginger, H.M. & Faaij, A.P.C., 2013. "Biomass torrefaction technology: Techno-economic status and future prospects," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 196-214.
    10. Delivand, Mitra Kami & Barz, Mirko & Gheewala, Shabbir H. & Sajjakulnukit, Boonrod, 2011. "Economic feasibility assessment of rice straw utilization for electricity generating through combustion in Thailand," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(11), pages 3651-3658.
    11. Diep, Nhu Quynh & Fujimoto, Shinji & Minowa, Tomoaki & Sakanishi, Kinya & Nakagoshi, Nobukazu, 2012. "Estimation of the potential of rice straw for ethanol production and the optimum facility size for different regions in Vietnam," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 205-211.
    12. Mirkouei, Amin & Haapala, Karl R. & Sessions, John & Murthy, Ganti S., 2017. "A review and future directions in techno-economic modeling and optimization of upstream forest biomass to bio-oil supply chains," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 15-35.
    13. Hu, Ming-Che & Huang, An-Lei & Wen, Tzai-Hung, 2013. "GIS-based biomass resource utilization for rice straw cofiring in the Taiwanese power market," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 354-360.
    14. Palander, Teijo & Haavikko, Hanna & Kärhä, Kalle, 2018. "Towards sustainable wood procurement in forest industry – The energy efficiency of larger and heavier vehicles in Finland," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 100-118.
    15. Sultana, Arifa & Kumar, Amit, 2012. "Optimal siting and size of bioenergy facilities using geographic information system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 192-201.
    16. Zhang, Xingping & Luo, Kaiyan & Tan, Qinliang, 2016. "A feedstock supply model integrating the official organization for China's biomass generation plants," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 276-290.
    17. Anna Kożuch & Dominika Cywicka & Aleksandra Górna, 2024. "Forest Biomass in Bioenergy Production in the Changing Geopolitical Environment of the EU," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-20, January.
    18. Singh, Jaswinder, 2016. "Identifying an economic power production system based on agricultural straw on regional basis in India," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 1140-1155.
    19. Díaz-Ramírez, Maryori & Sebastián, Fernando & Royo, Javier & Rezeau, Adeline, 2012. "Combustion requirements for conversion of ash-rich novel energy crops in a 250 kWth multifuel grate fired system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 636-643.
    20. Hao Lv & Hao Ding & Dequn Zhou & Peng Zhou, 2014. "A Site Selection Model for a Straw-Based Power Generation Plant with CO 2 Emissions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(10), pages 1-16, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:67:y:2014:i:c:p:631-640. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.