Optimal design of sustainably efficient biorefineries supply chain

LUCAS MAXIMILIANO MACHÍN FERRERO; RICHARD CABRERA JIMÉNEZ; JONATHAN WHEELER; CARLOS POZO; FERNANDO DANIEL MELE

SADIO Electronic Journal of Informatic and Operation Research

SOCIEDAD ARGENTINA DE INFORMÁTICA E INVESTIGACIÓN OPERATIVA

Año: 2023 vol. 22 p. 168 - 185

1514-6774

A more comprehensive use of biomass as raw material to produce food, energy and products would result in an important contribution towards the Sustainable Development Goals. The concept of biorefinery allows regions with abundant natural resources to make the most of available biomass for these pur-poses, achieving progressive independence from fossil resources. This study pre-sents a framework for the multi-criteria design of biorefinery supply chains (SC) under sustainability considerations. Therefore, an optimization approach of dif-ferent scenarios is performed followed by a ranking based on the Data Envelop-ment Analysis (DEA) model to assess the efficiency according to different eco-nomic, environmental and social indicators. The capabilities of this approach are demonstrated through a case study of the biomass SC centered in the Northwest of Argentina.