Resop, Jonathan P.Cundiff, John S.Grisso, Robert D.2022-06-232022-06-232022-06-17Resop, J.P.; Cundiff, J.S.; Grisso, R.D. Central Control for Optimized Herbaceous Feedstock Delivery to a Biorefinery from Satellite Storage Locations. AgriEngineering 2022, 4, 544-565.http://hdl.handle.net/10919/110906The delivery of herbaceous feedstock from satellite storage locations (SSLs) to a biorefinery or preprocessing depot is a logistics problem that must be optimized before a new bioenergy industry can be realized. Both load-out productivity, defined as the loading of 5 × 4 round bales into a 20-bale rack at the SSL, and truck productivity, defined as the hauling of bales from the SSLs to the biorefinery, must be maximized. Productivity (Mg/d) is maximized and cost (USD/Mg) is minimized when approximately the same number the loads is received each day. To achieve this, a central control model is proposed, where a feedstock manager at the biorefinery can dispatch a truck to any SSL where a load will be available when the truck arrives. Simulations of this central control model for different numbers of simultaneous load-out operations were performed using a database of potential production fields within a 50 km radius of a theoretical biorefinery in Gretna, VA. The minimum delivered cost (i.e., load-out plus truck) was achieved with nine load-outs and a fleet of eight trucks. The estimated cost was 11.24 and 11.62 USD/Mg of annual biorefinery capacity (assuming 24/7 operation over 48 wk/y for a total of approximately 150,000 Mg/y) for the load-out and truck, respectively. The two costs were approximately equal, reinforcing the desirability of a central control to maximize the productivity of these two key operations simultaneously.application/pdfenCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 Internationalherbaceous feedstockspatial modelingspatial analysisbiomass logisticsbiomass load-outbiomass haulingsatellite storage locationsArticle - Refereed2022-06-23https://doi.org/10.3390/agriengineering4020037