We show how different supply chain configurations affect the economic performance and energy efficiency of biofuel supply chains. Despite the additional costs and energy required for installing and operating regional depots, transportation costs and energy savings are observed when depots are combined with the appropriate transportation modes at longer distances. We introduce a hybrid configuration which combines various configurations and leads to better economic performance and higher energy efficiency. We further study the impact of various factors on the performance of the biofuel supply chain: distance between harvesting site and depot, biomass productivity, biorefinery size, and densification efficiency. We show that biomass should be shipped directly to biorefineries when the distance is small, while depots are preferred at larger distances. The hybrid configuration offers lower minimum ethanol selling price and energy input for larger biorefineries. Furthermore, we study how improvements in densification technologies can reduce transportation cost and energy consumption.

我们展示了不同的供应链配置如何影响生物燃料供应链的经济绩效和能源效率。尽管安装和操作区域性仓库需要额外的成本和能源，但是当将仓库与较长距离的适当运输模式结合使用时，仍可以观察到运输成本和能源节省。我们介绍一种混合配置结合了各种配置，带来了更好的经济表现和更高的能源效率。我们进一步研究了各种因素对生物燃料供应链绩效的影响：收割场与仓库之间的距离，生物量生产率，生物精炼厂规模和致密化效率。我们表明，当距离较小时，应将生物质直接运输到生物炼油厂，而距离较大时，最好选择仓库。混合配置为大型生物炼油厂提供了较低的最低乙醇销售价格和能源输入。此外，我们研究了致密化技术的改进如何降低运输成本和能耗。