Developing an integrated GIS-based fuzzy AHP and techno-economic assessment framework for agricultural residue-based biorefinery site selection in Canada

This study developed a novel integrated framework to assess the availability and accessibility of agricultural residues considering disaggregate county-by-county crop production data by accounting for soil conservation needs, harvesting efficiency, competing uses, handling, transportation and storage losses, and moisture effects. The spatially precise residue locations and available quantities were then used to feed a location-allocation model in which candidate sites were identified by considering environmental, economic, and social factors through GIS spatial analysis and the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process. The location-allocation analysis determined the optimal number, locations, and sizes of biorefineries considering actual travel distances. A techno-economic assessment was then performed, accounting for economies of scale in plant capital investment cost, as well as biomass production, transportation, operation, and maintenance costs. In this study, biorefineries produce bio-oil from agricultural residues through fast pyrolysis. A case study for Canada was conducted. Wheat straw's potential is 10.3 million dry tonnes/year, barley straw's 1.9 million dry tonnes/year and corn stover's 5.8 million dry tonnes/year. This study determined 15 optimal facility locations and sizes and estimated the biomass delivered cost for each facility. The top-priority location is situated in West Elgin, Ontario, and is linked to 37 biomass collection points. The top-priority facility processes 1.67 million dry tonnes/year (10 units of the largest possible pyrolysis unit), with a delivered cost of 98.18 USD/dry tonne and a bio-oil production cost of 1.09 ± 0.13 USD/L including uncertainty. The sensitivity analysis determined the bio-oil production cost to be most sensitive to the annual yield and operating costs. The developed framework for determining optimal biorefinery sites can be used globally.