Analysis of the effect of various agricultural campaigns on the optimal location of bioplants based on agricultural waste

Abstract

 This article presents a study on the impact of agricultural campaigns on identifying optimal sites for the installation of bioener­gy plants. The model utilizes crop maps that geolocate areas, combined with performance data and harvested fractions, corresponding to four consecutive agricultural campaigns, modifying a custom-developed computational software for bioenergy planning. To illustrate a real case of bioenergy planning, the installation of 20 bioplants is evaluated, each with an annual processing capacity of 50,000 tn corn and soybean pellets from agricultural residues, in the province of Córdoba-Argentina. The process efficiencies are derived from the "MM BIOENERGÍA" bio­plant, located in Cerro Azul, Misiones, Argentina. Two main effects are analysed: the impact on the optimal location campaign by campaign, and the variation in the collection radius of a bioplant based on the distribution of available biomass from campaign to campaign.

The results reveal significant changes in the optimal sites depending on the campaign, and an increase in the harvested area, which may in­crease by up to four times. The discussion focuses on how these variations may affect the technical-economic viability of bioenergy projects.