OPTIMIZATION AND SIMULATION OF INTEGRATED BIOMASS AND BIO-ENERGY LOGISTICS NETWORKS

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: OTHER GRANTS
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 0223180
• Grant No.: 2010-38821-21595
• Cumulative Award Amt.: $499,921.00
• Proposal No.: 2010-02491
• Project Start Date: Sep 1, 2010
• Project End Date: Aug 31, 2014
• Grant Year: 2010
• Program Code: [EQ]- Research Project

Recipient Organization
SOUTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
ORANGEBURG,SC 29117

Performing Department
Industrial and Electrical Engineering Technology

Non Technical Summary
This research project addresses NIFA's sustainable and renewable bio-energy Strategic Goal. It focuses on NIFA's Bio-energy/Biofuel Program Priority Area. The Program Need Area to be addressed is Research – Studies and Experimentation in Food and Agricultural Sciences. This proposed multidisciplinary joint research generally falls into the Agribusiness Management & Marketing (EQ.L) and Agricultural Engineering (EQ.E) subject areas. The overall objective of this research is to develop optimization model, algorithms, and simulation tool to optimize the biomass and bio-energy logistics networks, in hope to bring down the logistics costs of producing biofuel and make it more cost effective. Through the effective collaboration between South Carolina State University and Texas A&M University, this project is also intended to help enhance the research capacity of South Carolina State faculty and students in biomass and bio-energy logistics area. Finally, we hope to develop a dynamic and lasting biomass and bio-energy logistics research program at South Carolina State through the proposed activities and collaboration. A lot of biomass and bio-energy studies are focused on bio-processing techniques. Although biomass and biofuel logistics cost accounts for 20% of the total biofuel production costs, much less research efforts have been devoted to reducing the logistics cost. To address this critical research area, eight tasks have been identified. The main tasks include data collection, development of logistics model, exact and heuristic optimization algorithms, simulation model and tool, and case study. Most of these tasks will be led by South Carolina State researchers.

Animal Health Component

40%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

50%

Applied

40%

Developmental

10%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
601	6199	2020	30%
604	6199	2080	40%
121	6199	3100	30%

Knowledge Area
601 - Economics of Agricultural Production and Farm Management; 604 - Marketing and Distribution Practices; 121 - Management of Range Resources;

Subject Of Investigation
6199 - Economy, general/other;

Field Of Science
2020 - Engineering; 2080 - Mathematics and computer sciences; 3100 - Management;

Keywords

biomass

bio-energy

logistics

modeling

integrated optimization

optimal assignment

robust optimization

simulation

integer programming

algorithm

heuristic

lagrangean relaxation

benders decomposition

Goals / Objectives
The goal of this proposed research is to develop optimization model, algorithms, and simulation tool to analyze and optimize the design and operations of biomass and bio-energy logistics networks based on an underlying network structure in Figure 1 in the proposal. The network structure consists of the inbound side and the outbound side. The inbound side represents the collection, storage, and transportation of biomass. On the outbound side, biofuels are transported from biorefineries to blending facilities to be blended with fossil fuels before distribution to gas stations. The ultimate goal is to minimize the total logistics costs involved in biofuel production and to make the widely use of renewable and clean energy economically more feasible. The optimal solution satisfies various logistics network structure and system constraints and the solution decisions include the number, capacities, and locations of collection centers and biorefineries. The research team plans to develop research methods/tools that can find the optimal number, capacities, and locations of collection centers and biorefineries. The developed research methods/tools also find the optimal assignment of farms to collection centers, collection centers to biorefineries, blending stations to biorefineries. They also find biomass and biofuel transportation decision as well as inventory decisions at the collection centers and biorefineries. More specifically, the research team will pursue the following four objectives: 1) Development of Optimization Model: develop an innovative and robust biomass and biofuel logistics model; 2) Development of Optimization Algorithm: develop a detailed formulation, an exact algorithm, and an efficient heuristic algorithm to solve the robust optimization model; 3) Development of Simulation Tool: develop a simulation tool to evaluate the robust optimization model and the accompanying algorithms. The expected outputs of this proposed research include but not limited to: 1) new and improved biomass and biofuel logistics models; 2) an exact algorithm and a heuristic algorithm for the developed model; 3) a user-friendly simulation tool for modeling and evaluating biomass and biofuel; and 4) a final report documenting the model and algorithm development, model testing and comparison results, implementation findings, etc.

Project Methods
The model will be developed to better consider the uncertainties involved in biomass and biofuel logistics modeling, which include the uncertainties in farmers' participation and biomass yield. This model will generate different scenarios to incorporate the uncertainty in farmers participation and utilize interval data (upper and lower limits) for analyzing the uncertainty in biomass yield. For the robust optimization model, we will employ the most commonly accepted robustness objective that minimizes the maximum regret over all scenarios. The regret is defined as the difference between the optimum objective value of a scenario and the objective value for the robust solution. We will consider a robustness measure for each period with respect to its scenario (rather than the same measure for all scenarios and modeling periods). The overall objective function will then be the minimization of either the mean or the maximum of minimax regret objectives over all periods. The solution includes robust assignment of farms and collection centers, vehicle routing, and inventory decisions for each period. The robust optimization model developed is an NP-hard problem and a large-scale mixed integer program with many binary and real variables along with numerous constraints capturing network structure and system tactical/operational requirements. Solving it by conventional techniques such as the branch-and-cut algorithm requires large amount of memory and computational time. This type of NP-hard problems can sometimes be solved more efficiently by nontraditional techniques such as heuristic algorithms, Lagrangean Relaxation (LR), and Benders Decomposition (BD) methods. For the proposed research, we first will consider a single-period problem and develop a detailed formulation and efficient heuristic algorithms. Next, we will consider the BD and LR approaches. For the BD approach, the original problem will be decomposed into a master problem and a subproblem. The master problem only includes the integer variables and the subproblem only includes real variables for the flow and inventory decisions. The subproblem will be dualized and benders cuts will be generated. In the robust optimization model, we expect that the subproblem will be separable by scenarios and multiple Benders cuts will be used. The other approach, LR, will also be investigated. It is very important and interesting to see how certain changes in the logistics system input or parameters can affect the system performance. For this reason, we will focus on developing a simulation tool to evaluate the robust optimization model and the accompanying algorithms. The simulation tool will be based on a commercial simulation program called ARENA. The research team will write customized code to develop the biomass and biofuel logistics simulation tool. This tool will be developed with input from the operational biorefineries and national laboratories that the research team plans to visit.

Progress 09/01/10 to 08/31/14

Outputs
Target Audience: Nothing Reported Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? (1) Seminar SCSU research team organized a TRANSIMS training course on April 14-15, 2011. During this two-day training, Mr. Michael Hope and Dr. Vadim Sokolov from the Argonne National Laboratory demonstrated how to use TRANSIMS for transportation planning and large-scale transportation network simulation. Over twenty people participated in this training, including SCSU Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Student Chapter members, SCSU faculty and staff, and planners from state and local agencies. (2) Collaboration with Texas A&M University Dr. Hong, PI, along with Mr. Dijala Feludu and Ms. Da’Veda Sistrunk, graduate students from Transportation program at SCSU, traveled to Texas A&M University from August 20-24, 2011. They worked with Dr. Uster, Co-PI and his research team on developing the model, algorithm, and simulation tool for this project. Dr. Feng of SCSU, Co-PI, visited Dr. Uster, Co-PI, and his research team at Texas A&M University from August 13th to August 16th, 2012. During his visit, Dr. Uster’s research team introduced their optimization model and the solution approaches for the Biomass and Bio-energy logistics networks. (3) Participation SCSU research team participated South Carolina Bio-Energy Summit held in Pee Dee Research Education Center of Clemson University, October 6, 2011. Presentation features on (i) Education for a sustainable future, (ii) Bioenergy in action, (iii) Research driving the industry, (iv) Bioenergy’s role in rural economic development, and (v) Collaborative opportunities. Drs. J. Hong and Y. Xie attended National Project Directors Conference held in USDA NIFA Waterfront Center, Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel in Arlington, VA, USDA Jefferson Auditorium, and NSF in Arlington, VA, Nov. 29- Dec. 2, 2010. (4) MS Theses This project generated two Master’s theses. Dijala Feludu Thesis Title: An analysis of the impact of preprocessing of biomass on the transportation and storage of the biomass-biorefinery supply chain: A case study of the I-95 Corridor in South Carolina. 2. Fariba Tebyanian Thesis Title: A Simulation Approach to Modeling Biomass and Bio-energy Logistics Networks: A Case Study of South Carolina. (5) Seven presentations at the national/international conferences have been made. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? In order to exhibit important project information, project update and results, and to improve the communication among project members and other potential specialist in the matter, a Twitter account and a Google Groups website have been developed. Both Twitter and Google Groups are the latest trend in systems which support discussion and communication among people with common interest all around the world. Particularly in our case, Google Groups function as the main form of communication among group members as well as project’s update display. It is also available for non-members at the domain. On the other hand, Twitter enables us to keep informed and engaged to any upgrade in the bio-energy field in real time. Because of its great success, it also opens the door to new relations with multiple research groups and specialist. It can be followed by anyone just looking for the username @Bio_Logistics. To add to the technology tools, a website has also been created for the team. The website includes links to the other social sites. The webpage can be accessed at http: scsubiomasslogistics.webstarts.com. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? We have accomplished: (1) Development of new and improved biomass and biofuel logistics models (2) Development of an exact algorithm and a heuristic algorithm for the developed model (3) Development of a user-friendly simulation tool for modeling and evaluating biomass and biofuel (4) A final report documenting the model and algorithm development, model testing and comparison results, implementation findings, etc.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2015 Citation: (1)Tebyanain, F., K. Feng, and J. Hong. Evaluating and Analyzing a Biomass and Biofuel Supply Chain: A Simulation Approach. Proceedings of the 8th International Congress on Logistics and SCM Systems, 289-294, Tokyo, Japan, August, 4-6, 2013. (2)Hong, J., K. Feng, and F. Tebyanain. A Robust and Optimal Biorefinery Location Model for the Integrated Bio-Energy Logistics Network. Proceedings of the 8th International Congress on Logistics and SCM Systems, 301-306,Tokyo, Japan, August, 4-6, 2013. (3)Memisoglu, G. and H. Uster. Integrated Bio-Energy Supply Chain Network Planning Problem. Revised and resubmitted to Transportation Science, 2014. (4)Hong, J., K. Feng, and Y. Xie. A Simulation-based Robust Biofuel Facility Location Model for an Integrated Bio-Energy Logistics Network. Revised and resubmitted to Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management, June, 2014.

Progress 09/01/11 to 08/31/12

Outputs
OUTPUTS: Task 2 - Date Collection: The research team visited Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee in August 2012. Efforts were made to visit a bio-refinery in Loudon, TN, which is operated by DuPont. Our request to visiting was rejected. The research team gathered data from the literature review. Tasks 3 and 4-Development of Optimization Model and Algorithms: A biomass and biofuel logistics model was developed by Texas A&M University research team, Led by Co-PI, Dr. H. Uster. Task 5-Development of Simulation Tool: Co-PI, Dr. Feng of South Carolina State University is reviewing the current literature, collecting necessary data, and developing the simulation model using a commercial simulation program software, ARENA. Dr. Hong of South Carolina State University developed an Excel spreadsheet model for the integrated biomass logistics network to assist Tasks 3, 4, and 5. Dissemination: In order to exhibit important project information, project update and results, and to improve the communication, a website, in addition to a Twitter account and a Google Groups website, has been created. The website includes links to the other social sites and the webpage can be accessed at http://scsubiomasslogistics.webstarts.com/. PARTICIPANTS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. TARGET AUDIENCES: Not relevant to this project. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.

Impacts
Reorganization of Research Teams: South Carolina State University (SCSU) research team for the project was reorganized. The number of research team is seven (7) including, Dr. J. Hong, PI, Drs. Judith and Keli, Co-PI's, MS. Fariba Tebyanian, graduate student in the Master of Science in Transportation program, and two undergraduate students from the Industrial Engineering Technology Program, Ms. Regina Long and Mr. Brian Taylor. Collaboration: Dr. Feng, Co-PI, visited Dr. Uster, Co-PI, and his research team at Texas A&M University from August 13th to August 16th, 2012. During his visit, Dr. Uster's research team introduced their optimization model and the solution approaches for the Biomass and Bio-energy logistics networks. Based on their proposed optimization model, Dr. Feng discussed some existing Biomass/Biofuel simulation models in the literature and proposed a simulation model for the project. They also discussed model input data, case studies, and collaborative research plans for the upcoming academic year. Research: Drs. Xie, Zhao, Feng, and Hong presented their research paper, "A GIS-Based Decision Support Tool for Finding Optimal Biorefinery Locations," at the 91st Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., January 22-26, 2012. Drs. Hong and Xie presented a research paper, "A Robust Facility Location and Transportation Model for the Integrated Biomass and Bio-Energy Logistics Network," at the 7th International Congress on Logistics and SCM Systems (ICLS), Seoul, Korea, June 7-9, 2012. This paper was recommended for the special issue by ICLS session chairs and is being extended to submit to the journal. MS Thesis: Ms. Tebyanian is working on her thesis in the area of simulation modeling on Biomass and Bioenergy Logistics Networks. The title of her thesis is "A Simulation Approach to Modeling Biomass and Bio-energy Logistics Networks: A Case Study of South Carolina."

Publications

• Hong, J. and Xie, Y. 2012. A Robust Facility Location and Transportation Model for the Integrated Biomass and Bio-Energy Logistics Network. CD of Proceedings of the 7th International Congress on Logistics and SCM Systems, Seoul, Korea, June 7-9, 2012.

Progress 09/01/10 to 08/31/11

Outputs
OUTPUTS: Task 1 -Literature Review To better understand the many different factors affecting the biomass and biofuel logistics and to make sure the results of this research are both theoretically and practically sound, a part of this task had been done and the result is being summarized. This task will be continued next year. Task 3 - Development of Optimization Model Based on the evaluation of existing models reviewed in Task 1, a biomass and biofuel logistics model is being developed by Texas A&M research team, led by Co-PI, Dr. H. Uster. Task 4 - Development of Optimization Algorithm The robust optimization model developed in Task 3 is a large-scale mixed integer program with many binary and real variables along with numerous constraints. Consequently, it would be very difficult to solve. An optimization algorithm to solve this model is being developed by Texas A&M research team, led by Dr. H. Uster. Task 5- Development of Simulation Tool Task 5 will focus on developing a simulation tool to evaluate the robust optimization model and the accompanying algorithms proposed in Tasks 3 and 4. A commercial simulation program called "ARENA" was purchased as proposed in the proposal and a simulation model is being developed by SCSU research team, led by Dr. Hong. In addition, Dr. Hong has been developing an Excel spreadsheet model for the integrated biomass and bio-energy logistics network to assist Tasks 3, 4, and 5. Dissemination: In order to exhibit important project information, project update and results, and to improve the communication among project members and other potential specialist in the matter, a Twitter account and a Google Groups website have been developed. Both Twitter and Google Groups are the latest trend in systems which support discussion and communication among people with common interest all around the world. Particularly in our case, Google Groups function as the main form of communication among group members as well as project's update display. It is also available for non-members at the domain: http://groups.google.com/group/biomass_biofuel_logisticshl=en&lnk=. On the other hand, Twitter enables us to keep informed and engaged to any upgrade in the bio-energy field in real time. Because of its great success, it also opens the door to new relations with multiple research groups and specialist. It can be followed by anyone just looking for the username @Bio_Logistics. PARTICIPANTS: Principal Investigator (PI):Dr. Hong, Jae-Dong, Department of Industrial Engineering Technology, South Carolina State University, Orangeburg, SC 29117-7722, [phone], E-Mail: [e-mail] Co-Principal Investigators: Dr. Xie, Yuanchang, South Carolina State University, (Resigned in August, 2011) Dr. Feng, Keli, BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, South Carolina State University, E-Mail: [e-mail] Dr. Haile, Selassie, AGRIBUSINESS & ECONOMICS, South Carolina State University, E-Mail: [e-mail] Dr. Uster, Halit, Industrial Engineering, Texas A&M University, E-Mail: [e-mail] TARGET AUDIENCES: Not relevant to this project. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.

Impacts
Organization of Research Teams: South Carolina State University (SCSU) research team for the project was organized. The number of research team is six (6) including, Dr. J. Hong, PI, Drs. Xie and Selassie, two Co-PI's, Mr. Dijala Feludu and Ms. Da'Veda Sistrunk, graduate students in the Master of Science in Transportation program, and Mr. Gabriel Fernandez, undergraduate student from Industrial Engineering Technology program. Mr. Feludu and Ms. Sistrunk have been working on this project assisting with literature review and data collection. Mr. Fernandez has been working on creating a biomass and biofuel logistics research clearinghouse website and managing Google Discussion Group, Facebook, and Twitter accounts. Texas A&M University research team consists of Dr. H. Uster, a Co-PI and Mr. G. Memisoglu, a Ph.D. student in Industrial Engineering Department. Seminar: SCSU research team organized a TRANSIMS training course on April 14-15, 2011. During this two-day training, Mr. Michael Hope and Dr. Vadim Sokolov from the Argonne National Laboratory demonstrated how to use TRANSIMS for transportation planning and large-scale transportation network simulation. Over twenty people participated in this training, including SCSU Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Student Chapter members, SCSU faculty and staff, and planners from state and local agencies. Collaboration: Dr. Hong, PI, along with Mr. Dijala Feludu and Ms. Da'Veda Sistrunk, graduate students from Transportation program, traveled to Texas A&M University from August 20-24, 2011. They worked with Dr. Uster, Co-PI and his research team on developing the model, algorithm, and simulation tool for this project. Participation/Attendance: SCSU research team participated South Carolina Bio-Energy Summit held in Pee Dee Research Education Center of Clemson University, October 6, 2011. Presentation features on (i) Education for a sustainable future, (ii) Bioenergy in action, (iii) Research driving the industry, (iv) Bioenergy's role in rural economic development, and (v) Collaborative opportunities. Drs. J. Hong and Y. Xie attended National Project Directors Conference held in USDA NIFA Waterfront Center, Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel in Arlington, VA, USDA Jefferson Auditorium, and NSF in Arlington, VA, Nov. 29- Dec. 2, 2010. MS Thesis: This project has generated one Master's thesis. Mr. Dijala Feludu will graduate from the MS of Transportation program in December 2011. He plans to pursue a Ph.D. degree in Supply Chain and Logistics. Dijala Feludu Thesis Title: An analysis of the impact of preprocessing of biomass on the transportation and storage of the biomass-biorefinery supply chain: A case study of the I-95 Corridor in South Carolina." Research: One presentation at international conference will be made: Xie, Y., K. Zhao, K. Feng, and J. Hong. A GIS-Based Decision Support Tool for Finding Optimal Biorefinery Locations, accepted to be presented at the 91st Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., January 22-26, 2012.

Publications

• Biomass and Bio-Energy Logistics Research was feature in the October 2011 issue of Biodiesel magazine on pages 36-39 under the title, The Complexities of Biofuels Logistics: Can an intricate modeling system solve the problems of getting biofuels to the pump