Supply chain design and integration for the Co-Processing of bio-oil and vacuum gas oil in a refinery

Co-processing of bio-oil and vacuum gas oil (VGO) helps to add renewable carbon to co-processing products and decrease the production cost of bio-fuels by using refinery existing infrastructures. Designing an effective supply chain for the co-processing system of bio-oil and VGO is very important for the further reduction of the production cost. However, it still remains unclear about how to integrate and coordinate the biomass supply and the crude oil supply. In this work, a mathematical model was pro-posed for the design and integration of the supply chain for the co-processing system to obtain the optimal supply chain network between the biomass supply and the crude oil supply. The obtained optimal supply chain network involved collections, storages and transportations of the biomass and the crude oil. The case study suggested that each storage site should be located within the relevant village to reduce the transportation cost; that the optimal transportation mode between the collection site and the storage site was electric truck while the optimal one between the storage site and co-processing site was heavy truck; that the crude oil cost contributed more than 99% for the total annualized cost; and that the biomass transportation cost was close to the biomass cost. Sensitivity analysis was also conducted to evaluate the effects of parameters on the total cost. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The co-processing of bio-oil and VGO can reduce production costs by leveraging existing refinery infrastructure, and an effective supply chain design is crucial for further cost reduction. Integration of biomass and crude oil supplies through an optimal network is essential for efficient transportation and storage, with sensitivity analysis evaluating cost parameters.