Biodigester location problems, its economic–environmental–social​ aspects and techniques: Areas yet to be explored

Abstract

Bioenergy is a renewable energy obtained from biomass, and its main benefits are the reduction of greenhouse gases and waste disposal. One way to generate bioenergy is through anaerobic digesters. However, a common problem found in feasibility analyses is the appropriate location for these biodigesters, since the biomass is geographically and spatially dispersed. When the location is poorly chosen, it can interfere with the viability of the project. Therefore, the objective of this research is to determine the existence of areas that could still be explored by investigating studies that seek to identify suitable locations for deploying the biodigesters from the perspective of aspects (economic, environmental and social), localization problems (location/allocation and supply chain) and techniques. To this end, a systematic review of the literature was conducted from the Science Direct, Scopus and Web of Science databases. It was observed that the literature could be more explored to (a) consider the social aspect in biodigesters location models, (b) propose studies that specify and consolidate each aspects’ characteristics found in the literature applied in biodigesters location models, (c) integrate the economic–environmental–social aspects into supply chain project problems, and (d) explore the creation of clusters for energy production through strategic partnerships between small farms.

Keywords

• Bioenergy
• Biomass
• Biodigesters
• Location
• Systematic review