Simulation And Optimization Of Feedstock Supply Network For Biomass Power Plant

Biomass burned power plant is a main way to utilize bioenergy, however, status quo of a great number of current biomass power plant in China shows that feedstock supply network plays an important role in stable and economical operation. Today's design of feedstock supply network for biomass power plant mainly depends on experience instead of in-depth theoretical research, causing a great gap between design expectation and operation reality. In order to improve this status quo, this study developed a new methodology to simulate and optimize feedstock supply network for biomass power plant with national conditions.In China, feedstock is usually delivered from field to satellite storage and then to plant. This study built mathematics model for this delivery mode with reasonable simplification and assumption, which established a functional relation between collection cost and satellite storage number, and can give optimal storage number and minimum overall collection cost. Due to its limitation on geographical calculation, mathematics model fails to give locations for plant and storages. Thus, a GIS model is also developed, which can not only give optimal number of storages and minimum overall collection cost, but also optimal geographical distribution for plant and storages as well as their collection areas. This study also established a logistics model involving feedstock delivery and processing between storages and plant, to simulate, monitor and analyze various logistics alternatives based on the software of EXTEND. The logistics model aims to reduce truck waiting time before receiving processing and minimize the overall variable logistics cost by adjusting the number of processing facilities and trucks allocated to storages at the prerequisite of stable feedstock supply. In the case of 100MWe biomass power plant, the largest scale of-its kind in China, mathematics model and GIS model are used to optimize location for plant and storages as well as mutual comparison and verification. It found that overall collection cost reduced 1% and 5% under straight-line delivery and road delivery modes respectively. The EXTEND logistics model gives optimal values of related logistics parameters and minimum logistics cost, and also investigates influence of installed capacity of power plant, processing time of equipment and working schedule of trucks on logistics cost, and it is found that logistics cost reaches minimum at installed capacity of 100-125 MW, the cost is most sensitive to loading time, and the optimal working time for trucks is 16 hours.