(680b) GIS Integrated Optimization Model for Location of Biogas Combustion Power Plants Under Carbon Offsets in Wisconsin

There is an increasing interest in low carbon renewable energy generation in the US. Several technologies have been developed to convert biomass into energy, and anaerobic digestion is one such technology to convert food waste and animal manure into power by biochemical conversion and combustion. Many studies have looked at the optimization of the biomass supply chains in combination with environmental impacts. However, there are very few studies in the literature on determining optimum location of biopower plants fed by food waste and manure. This study evaluates the optimum locations, sizes, and the number of plants for biopower production in Wisconsin using both mixed integer linear programming (MILP) programming and GIS network analysis (ArcGIS V10) tools. The main objective of the study is to maximize the profits for biopower facilities accounting for both the profits from supply chain and carbon credits. Furthermore, the model predicts the cost-effective supply chain networks between feedstock locations and biopower plants. From a predetermined set of 24 candidate locations, the model predicts facility capacities among a discrete set from 0.5 MW to 20 MW, and matches sources of dairy manure and urban food waste to feed the facilities. Other decision variables include tipping fee for food waste, manure cost, and carbon credits of $15/ton CO₂ savings, where greenhouse gas savings for avoiding food landfilled and conventional manure management were taken from Ankathi et al. (2018). Inclusion of a carbon credit increased the profitability of biopower production and boosted biopower production capacity from 50 to over 80 MW in WI. The systems analyses presented will also include the net carbon footprint savings of the WI biogas power production compared to business as usual.

Ankathi, S.K., Potter, J., Shonnard, D.R., (2018) Carbon Footprint and Energy Analysis of Bio-CH₄ from a Mixture of Food Waste and Dairy Manure in Denver, CO, Environmental Progress / Sustainable Energy, 37(3), 1101-1111, DOI 10.1002/ep.12762