A Location-Allocation Model For Four-Stage Biomethane Supply Chain (Case Study: Biomethane Supply Chain in Khorasan Razavi)

As an environment-friendly and renewable energy source, biomethane plays a significant role in the supply of sustainable energy. To determine location of hubs, reactors and condensers and allocate feedstocks, biomethane and liquefied biomethane to these facilities in a biomethane production system by minimizing the supply chain cost, a mathematical model is developed in this article. Constraints, such as the limited workforce, the reactors’ demand on the residues, and the deterioration of the residues in the hubs are considered. Genetic algorithm for solving mixed integer nonlinear programming model is proposed. Genetic algorithm finds better solutions than Lingo when applied to the given problems but the speed of obtaining the solution is slower. Biomethane supply chain has been designed in Khorasan Razavi using the developed mathematical model and genetic algorithm.