Proceedings of the 2014 Industrial and Systems Engineering Research Conference

Y. Guan and H. Liao, eds.

A Comprehensive Decision Support Tool for the Assessment of

Feedstocks for Biofuel Production
Olivia C. Moreno
The University of Texas at El Paso
El Paso, Texas 79968
Karla R. Gutierrez
The University of Texas at El Paso
El Paso, Texas 79968
Dr. Heidi A. Taboada
The University of Texas at El Paso
El Paso, Texas 79968
Abstract
This work presents the development of a comprehensive decision support tool for the assessment of biofuel
feedstocks through their entire supply chain and impact considering the three pillars of sustainability: environmental,
social and economic factors. The study of first and second generation feedstocks includes projections of future
values of United States domestic crop supply and demand, economic conditions, the effect on social impact
indicators and the generation of environmental assessment. This work is presented in a friendly interface which
allows the user to find environmental and social sustainability indicators as well as an ethical responsibility
statement of a determined feedstock for biofuel production.

Keywords
Decision Support Tool, Social, Economic, Environmental Indicators, Feedstocks

1. Introduction
The adaptation of environmental and energy policies and the increase in energy prices have changed dramatically
the correlation between the agricultural and energy sectors. For many years, energy products have only been utilized
as an input in agriculture production. However, the use of agricultural products as feedstocks for renewable-fuel &
energy production has increased significantly [1].
Triple-digit increases in energy prices since the beginning of the century have increased significantly the cost of
many agricultural inputs [2]. As a result, these fluctuating policies promoting biofuels are corresponding with energy
price escalations, which have helped stimulate a substantial increase in energy sector demand for renewable-fuel
feedstocks like corn, soybeans and switchgrass.
As of 2012, corn-based ethanol and soybean-based biodiesel supplied almost 6 percent of U.S. transportation fuels,
consuming 42 and 1 percent of U.S. corn and soybean production, respectively [3]. A series of policies have
supported development of biofuels, including the Biomass Research and Development Act of 2000, the Energy
Policy Act of 2005 (which mandated increasing domestic use of renewable fuels to 7.5 billion gallons in 2012), the
Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007 (which established a 36-billion-gallon mandate for biofuels
by 2022), the 2002 and 2008 Farm Bills [4]. Meeting these goals will require that technical, economic, and research
challenges are met.

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Proceedings of the 2014 Industrial and Systems Engineering Research Conference

Y. Guan and H. Liao, eds.
The availability of biomass feedstocks is a critical part of the challenge. The National Biofuels Action Plan
identified two general barriers to providing sustainable quantities of feedstocks: a lack of biomass production
capacity and the high relative costs of production, recovery, and transportation for feedstocks [5].
As energy prices and expanding biofuel policies will continue to substantially increase the demand for agricultural
products as renewable fuel feedstocks, a holistic approach to focus on the ethical, social, economic and
environmental sustainable factors should be measured on a comparative approach. This work will aim to present the
analysis of the supply chain with the specified system boundaries and an impact assessment considering the three
pillars of sustainability of two major biofuel feedstocks; corn and switchgrass to demonstrate the decision support
tool application.

2. Comprehensive Decision Support Tool

The creation of this inclusive decision instrument is to benefit the user in their feedstock search and selection. The
user will easily find the production location of the specified feedstock crop, in addition to sustainability information
provided to assess the product. It is composed of two parts. The first part is a collection of data where any selection
may be made. At this point option menus are displayed from where the information may well be selected.
Subsequently, in the second segment, maps, graphs [6-8] and of course the outcome from economic and
environmental factors will be shown.

Figure 1: Decision tool feedstock selection

This user friendly tool has several choices to select from. In the first pull down menu the options of some feedstocks
are displayed. On a second pull down menu three options are displayed: Economic, Social, and Environmental
factors which all together give us a sustainability approach of the feedstock being analyzed. Once the selections
have been made, a map showing the location of the desired feedstock will appear, as well as results presenting
monetary figures and environmental analysis. Also a list of social factors will be displayed in order to provide a
social assessment of the product chosen for the study.

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Y. Guan and H. Liao, eds.

Figure 2: Decision tool data display

3. Sustainability Indicators
3.1 Environmental Factors
Energy consumption and Greenhouse Gas emissions will be included in the database generated within the
Comprehensive Decision Tool. Figure 3 and Table 1 below display the information gathered for the specified two
products for this study: switchgrass and corn [9,10]. The environmental emissions of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide
and methane will be gathered from literary work and added to the database to be used upon the users request. In the
case of the switchgrass product, the system boundaries were set to the four stages of switchgrass preparation:
establishment, growth, harvest and transport based on the machines used at each stage.

Figure 3: GHG emissions and energy consumption of switchgrass

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Proceedings of the 2014 Industrial and Systems Engineering Research Conference

Y. Guan and H. Liao, eds.
The emissions available for the corn product are produced based on a hectare of land in which this crop is harvested.
The complete database will include statistics that will differ slightly and based upon the availability of data for a
specific crop or product.
Table 1: Life cycle inventory of corn
Total per
Grain econ
Grain energy
hectare

Grain alone

Air pollutants
CO (kg)
NOX (kg)
SOX (kg)
PM 2.5 (kg)
PM10 (kg)
Pb (kg)
Ozone (kg)
NMVOC (kg)

13
15.7
2.5
0.97
1.21
0
0
4.87

11.13
13.43
2.14
0.83
1.03
0.0003
0.0008
4.16

9.09
10.97
1.75
0.67
0.84
0.0003
0.0007
3.39

11.8
13.71
2.22
0.85
1.06
0.0003
0.0009
4.05

GHGS
CO2 (kg)
CH4 (kg)
N2O (kg)
SF6 (kg)
GWP 100 (Kg CO2e)
GWP 20 (Kg CO2e)

14.49
4.22
3.16
0
2496
2666

1238
3.6
2.7
0.00001
2133
2278

1011
2.94
2.21
0.00001
1741
1860

1276
3.49
2.63
0.00001
21.48
22.88

Indicators
AP (Kg SO2e)
EP (Kg PO4e)
Fossil energy (MJ)

13.68
28.73
22,653

11.68
24.55
19,353

9.54
20.05
15,803

11.96
24.14
19,339

3.2 Economic Factors

As we stated earlier two products are featured in this work, corn and switchgrass. In this section an economic
analysis will be shown according to the literature review of these products. One of the reasons that corn was chosen
in this study comes from the vast production of this grain in the United States. Since 2001, total corn production has
increased very quickly from 9.5 billion bushels to 13 billion bushels in 2007 and the growth continuous [11]. On the
other hand switchgrass according to [12] is distinguished for its heavy growth, soil stabilization, erosion control, as a
windbreak and can yield almost twice as much ethanol as corn. The cost analysis that will be presented in the next
part of this study shows the most common economic analysis according to the literature assessment performed.
Element cost for all processing stages were calculated by taking into consideration the variable, fixed and labor
costs. These mentioned costs include the following: machinery, fuel, and energy requirements for all farm functions,
any chemicals such as pesticides, herbicides etc. Financial parameters such as interest rate, tax rate, insurance rate,
cropland rental value and fuel prices were included in cost calculations as well. Furthermore, the costs incurred for
using switchgrass and corn as fuel sources are considered and also included in the analysis [13].
Figure 4 is an example of the costs incurred in the different mentioned processes and Figure 5 is an example of costs
for the production of ethanol using specifically switchgrass [14].

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Y. Guan and H. Liao, eds.

Figure 4: Cost and revenues (US dollars/gallon of ethanol)

Primarily, the financial aspect of the cellulosic ethanol production has been object of extensive study according to
several authors mentioned in this paper [10-13]. The cost and availability of the biomass are major barriers for the
production of ethanol, in addition to pretreatment costs, and high capital investment [11]. The objective of creating
the database of the support tool with pre-existing data from literary sources is to enable the user to quickly make a
decision based on weighing in the three sustainability indicators: economic, social and environmental.

Figure 5: Components of cellulosic ethanol production cost

3.3 Social Factors
Social LCA is a technique for collecting, analyzing and communicating information about the social conditions of
production, and in some way, consumption too. Results of an S-LCA can be useful for a variety of reasons including
policymaking, company reporting, identifying areas of improvement, allocation of resources, and comparison of the
social footprint associated with products. As with environmental LCA, it is recommended to conduct a hotspot
analysis, using generic data to prioritize data gathering [14].

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Y. Guan and H. Liao, eds.
The social indicators that will be used in this study for the specified crops are the following: Social Welfare, Fair
Wages, Human Rights, Labor Laws and Gender Equality. Figure 6 below shows the social impact assessment
system from categories to a unit of measurement framework [15].

Figure 6: Social impact assessment system from categories to unit of measurement

6. Conclusions and Future Research

This research presented the creation of an inclusive decision support tool for the evaluation of biofuel feedstocks
through their complete supply chain and impact taking into account the three pillars of sustainability: environmental,
social and economic factors. This work presents a friendly interface which allows the user to find environmental and
social sustainability indicators as well as an ethical responsibility statement of a determined feedstock for biofuel
production. Furthermore, the support tool displays maps of the United States Department of Agriculture production
of the mentioned biofuel feedstocks.
In the end, the aim of this work is to help the consumer in their research for biofuel feedstock alternatives. The
decision support tool will give the best more accurate and up-to-date information regarding the topic and will gather
the information in a practical and user friendly interface. As future research, additional crops such as: grain
sorghum, barley, sugar cane, sugar beets, soybeans, corn stover, wheat straw, oats, rice, upland cotton, beef, pork,
poultry, eggs and dairy will be included in the database of the decision support tool. A water footprint and water
nexus component will also be considered as a feasible future goal for the decision support tool.

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Y. Guan and H. Liao, eds.
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