Simulation Scenario Analysis of Operational Day to Day Storage System of Biomass Supply Chain for a Power Plant Case Study Based on Logistic Cost and Transportation Emissions

Developing a sustainable transportation network of supplying and delivering a large amount of feedstock to biomass power plants depends on reducing the logistic cost and stable storage system. This study developed a simulation model to assess and help to understand the effect of the storage systems on the total logistic costs and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in empty fruit bunches (EFB) biomass supply chain (BSC). Our developed model is tested on a power plant industry in the Perak state of Malaysia. To analyze the sensitivity of the storage systems on the total costs and GHG emissions, two storage approaches are selected and compared: on land and satellite storage (SS) systems. This work just focused on operational day to day inventory planning. The results from our real case study showed that SS would outperform on land storage by reducing the GHG emissions from transportation near 50%. However, SS results in a triple increase in total BSC cost. Another finding is that the dedication of truck and train transportation modes is the best cost-effective alternative for transferring the EFB to the ports for the export market. But using the train instead of the barge for short distances would decrease the GHG emissions. Result of this work could be generalized for other BSCs to design a cost-effective and low-pollution transportation network design.