Biomass supply contract pricing and environmental policy analysis: A simulation approach

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2018-02-01
Authors
Huang, Shiyang
Hu, Guiping
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Hu, Guiping
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Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering
The Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering teaches the design, analysis, and improvement of the systems and processes in manufacturing, consulting, and service industries by application of the principles of engineering. The Department of General Engineering was formed in 1929. In 1956 its name changed to Department of Industrial Engineering. In 1989 its name changed to the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering.
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Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering
Abstract

This paper proposes an agent-based simulation model to study the biomass supply contract pricing and policy making in the biofuel industry. In the proposed model, the agents include farmers and a biofuel producer. Farmers' decision-making is assumed to be profit driven, which is formulated as a mixed-integer optimization model, and the biofuel producer's pricing decision is represented with a linear equation with an objective to maximize profits. A case study based on Iowa has been developed to analyze the interactions between the stakeholders and assist determination of the optimal pricing equation for the biofuel producer. Simulation results show that under such a pricing strategy, the biofuel producer can achieve higher profitability than using a fixed price. The impact of government environmental regulations on farmers' decision-making and biomass supply has also been analyzed, and managerial insights have been derived.

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This is a manuscript of an article published as Huang, Shiyang, and Guiping Hu. "Biomass supply contract pricing and environmental policy analysis: A simulation approach." Energy (2018). doi:10.1016/j.energy.2018.01.015. Posted with permission.

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Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 UTC 2018
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