Overview of sustainable biomass supply chain: from concept to modelling

The human dependency on finite fossil fuel has led to its drastic depletion. Along with its detrimental effects on the environment, such practice is now deemed unsustainable. This phenomenon has led to the growth for utilisation of biomass in the production of biofuels, biochemical and other related bioproducts. This waste-to-wealth strategy is no doubt highly beneficial to the society. However, the major challenge in the commercialisation of bioproducts production includes the complex conversion processes and the uncertainty in the supply and sources of biomass. Therefore, efficient supply chain management and optimisation is essential to overcome these barriers and variables that may constrain the development of a competitive and sustainable bioproducts market. This overview provides an extensional definition of biomass-to-bioproducts supply chain and systematically describes the problems and decisions along this chain. It also identifies the characteristics of a sustainable integrated biomass supply chain, and finally presents an overview of biomass supply chain synthesis and optimisation methods. Based on the existing research gap, the key challenges and potential future works are highlighted. This paper will provide readers with an initial point to understand the concept of sustainable biomass supply chain management and the synthesis and optimisation of sustainable biomass supply chain models.