Systematic assessment of triticale‐based biorefinery strategies: techno‐economic analysis to identify investment opportunities

Abstract

In recent years, interest has increased in biorefineries that use a variety of biomass residues and non‐food crops. Triticale (X Triticosecale Wittmack) is a human‐developed crop that has the potential to become a preferred industrial energy crop for the biorefinery because of its capacity to grow on marginal land, its higher yields compared to existing cereal crops such as wheat, and its non‐competition with food‐based crops. However, implementation of the triticale‐based biorefinery will require the identification of sustainable strategies and as its sustainability pillar, the identification of economically promising strategies. In this study, the economic performance of several triticale‐based product‐process scenarios, including the production of ethanol, polylactic acid (PLA), and thermoplastic starch polymer, has been assessed through the evaluation of six economic criteria. These conflicting criteria have been evaluated in a multi‐criteria decision‐making (MCDM) panel, demonstrated for PLA platform, which has made it possible (i) to rank the alternatives by their economic performance, and (ii) to identify a set of the most important criteria to be used in a sustainability study. The MCDM results show that the alternatives with the best performance on profitability‐oriented criteria do not necessarily achieve the highest overall economic score. This suggests the need to consider both business‐strategy‐oriented criteria and profitability‐oriented criteria in strategic decision‐making. The MCDM results show that the internal rate of return, the downside internal rate of return, and the resistance to supply market uncertainty with relative weights of 24.8%, 23.6%, and 18.1% respectively, are the most important of the criteria assessed. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Systematic assessment of triticale‐based biorefinery strategies: sustainability assessment using multi‐criteria decision‐making (MCDM)

“…Multi‐disciplinary assessments, including techno‐economic, competitiveness, and environmental analyses, have been conducted to support early stage decision‐making for investment strategies by answering the following questions: (i) What is the economic potential associated with each process alternative, taking into account different levels of technology risks? (ii) What is the competitive position associated with each product portfolio that may lead to viable and long‐term business models?…”

“…Therefore, not only profitability oriented criteria, but also business oriented criteria should be considered to assess the economic viability of each investment opportunity. Sanaei and Stuart developed a set of economic criteria addressing profitability driven as well as business driven issues to provide a better characterization of the economic potential of each alternative. Profitability oriented criteria included (i) IRR to assess the short‐term profitability potential of the project, (ii) downside internal rate of return (DIRR) to evaluate the project robustness under the worst market conditions assuming highest biomass and lowest product prices, and (iii) return on capital employed (ROCE) to assess the efficiency of the investment.…”

“…Ranking of PLA production alternatives using (a) economic, (b) competitiveness, and (c) environmental assessments …”

“…Using the risk‐based approach presented by Chambost et al ., a base case and several product‐process alternatives were defined for PLA production, each having different degrees of technology and market risk. These design alternatives were assessed using MCDM for different dimensions of sustainability using economic, environmental, and competitiveness perspectives . Sanaei and Stuart used a set of profitability and business‐oriented criteria to assess the economic potential of each alternative, while Diffo et al .…”

Systematic assessment of triticale‐based biorefinery strategies: environmental evaluation using life cycle assessment

“…A systematic assessment of the economic, competitive, and environmental performances of various candidate biorefinery pathways should be conducted in the early stages of project development to identify the most promising product‐process combinations . Sanaei et al . and Diffo et al .…”