An integrated framework for enterprise management - A synergistic approach towards sustainable biorefineries

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

8-31-2010

Abstract

There has been a marked surge in the search for alternative sources of energy that wean the world off of dependence on fossil fuels and reduce our carbon foot-print on this world. After a boom in US corn-based ethanol in the early part of the 21st century, the interest has gradually shifted towards more viable sources of biofuels and biochemicals, e.g., cellulosic ethanol, biodiesel, and synthesis gas. Modeling an enterprise that produces renewable-based fuels and chemicals can provide valuable insight into the inter-play of the bioproduct supply-chain. A decentralized approach is adopted for supply chain management to mirror actual enterprise architecture and to make the decision support tools function autonomously. A biorefining enterprise is characterized as an entity having three major layers in its functional hierarchy, i.e., the strategic planning layer, the tactical planning layer, and the production planning layer. Each layer is modeled with an optimization model. The objective function used in the model is the company's shareholder value and the optimization time horizon is 5 yr with quarterly time increments. A forecasting module provides the model with demand and price forecasts for the 5 yr. Various aspects of future work are elucidated. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the AIChE 2010 Spring National Meeting (San Antonio, TX 3/21-25/2010).

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

10AIChE - 2010 AIChE Spring Meeting and 6th Global Congress on Process Safety

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