The research team of Tasseda Boukherroub and student Mathieu Faure conducted a study on optimizing transport in the supply chain of a biomethanization plant.
Summary
This research project explores the opportunities and challenges of integrated logistics, covering both the inbound (supply) and outbound (distribution) transport of a biomethanization plant bringing together several types of suppliers and customers in a collaborative context. The latter fall into three categories: (1) simple senders who supply only organic residues; (2) simple receivers who use only the digestate produced as fertilizer; and (3) senders-takers who play a dual role, both supplying residues and using digestate.
The residues are transported to the plant by two types of truck (tanker and dry bulk) of different capacities (small = 35.5t, medium = 46.5t and large = 56.5t), where they are transformed by biomethanization. The resulting co-product, a digestate used as an organic fertilizer, then needs to be distributed efficiently between single takers and emitter-takers. The main objectives of this project are to size a fleet of trucks adapted to the needs and capacity of the plant studied, and to determine the quantities of digestate to be allocated to each taker, so as to optimize the cost of transport in the logistics network while guaranteeing fair allocation. After defining and modeling the problem and testing several scenarios reflecting different transport strategies (load returns, heterogeneous vehicle fleet, etc.) and digestate allocation (quantities proportional to residue quantities supplied, quantities optimizing transport cost, etc.) using mathematical optimization (mixed integer linear program), we applied the model to a real case in Quebec. To support decision-making, a decision theater (ColLabInnov, ÉTS) will be used to bring together stakeholders in the field, visualize scenario results, refine them and validate the final transportation and allocation plan.
The model results should highlight the economic and environmental benefits of the different digestate transport and allocation strategies tested.
Practical issues and limitations of the model will also be discussed, along with prospects for further research.
