Designing and Managing Sustainable Biofuel Supply Chain from Biomass Resources

Dear Colleagues,

The interest of using biomass resources for energy purposes is increasing. Governments are looking for ways to increase awareness of climate change and strengthen rural development by growing the bioenergy market. The energy industry sector aims to capture the opportunities generated by these government targets and mandates. However, an increased production and use of biomass for energy raises sustainability issues related to production impacts of bioenergy on food security and biomass resources supply capacity.  The question is how to secure both the demand and supply of the bioenergy supply chain without negatively impacting on food security through building bioenergy supply chain management. In part, the answer may involve cross-sectoral and transnational networking that enables coordinated bioenergy policy development, information and knowledge sharing to manage bioenergy supply and demand, as well as the design of bioenergy process technologies by utilizing a wider array of biomass feedstocks conversion pathways and different end products that can be produced at a range of scales. Some of the solutions are the development of bioenergy supply chain optimization, the development of techno-economic analysis to an array of biomass feedstock conversion pathways, building resilient bioenergy supply chains thorugh supply and demand management, and assessing sustainability at each point of biomass supply chains. 

This Special Issue will raise issues related to designing and managing the biofuel supply chain from biomass resources. Authors should consider the relevant issues of sustainability, from economics, social responsibility, and environment, in managing biomass supply and biofuel demand. We encourage cross-sectoral and transnational bioenergy supply chain as a way of building sustainable bioenergy supply chain. The guest editors welcome the submission of original research papers and critical review synthesis papers by researchers from all disciplines investigating relevant topics, including, but not limited to: 

• Biomass supply, demand and market analysis;
• Cross-sectoral and transnational bioenergy supply chain;
• Bioenergy supply chain impacts on food security;
• Optimization/simulation models for biofuel supply chain management;
• Techno-economic analysis of biofuel supply chain;
• Life cycle assessment of biofuel supply chain;
• Sustainable biofuel production and consumption;
• Evaluating various candidate biomass feedstocks;
• Conversion technologies for sustainable biofuel production.

Dr. Yohanes Kristianto Nugroho
Prof. Dr. Liandong Zhu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• bioenergy supply chain
• life cycle assessment
• feedstocks conversion pathways
• food security
• sustainable bioenergy production and consumption
• techno-economic analysis