Biomass Supply Chains

Biomass Supply Chains provides a comprehensive study on the key issues in sustainability and sustainable design of biomass-based fuel and energy systems and supply chains, as well as circular systems for biomass-based production. Economic, environmental, social and technical issues are examined individually at both system/technology and supply chain level, including details on standards and certification schemes. It goes on to explore the methods and tools for sustainability assessment and sustainable design and management, describing each sustainability-related decision level encountered in design, management and operation phases. It also discusses the circular economy concept and explains different analytical tools, industrial engineering and operations research methods to design and manage circular systems. To this aim, the main strategies, methods and tools to create circular systems and to convert traditional linear systems into circular systems are introduced, as well as key waste management and resource use strategies. All issues discussed are illustrated through real-life cases. At the end of each chapter, a discussion and a comparative analysis of their topics is provided.

By integrating all these problematics and challenges in sustainability and circular design, this book allows researchers in academia and industry working on developing biomass-based solutions to clearly identify the methodologies and tools that satisfy their specific sustainability and circularity requirements based on the recent advances and prospects in the field. Graduate students and practitioners can also use this reference as systematic guide to available sustainability assessment methodologies that they can apply to biomass and bioenergy technologies.