Identification of Biomass Crop Production Area and Genetic Algorithm Application for Optimal Location of Processing Plants

摘要

When planning fiber and biomass production (hemp, Miscanthus, Arundo, Sorghum, etc.) at regional scale, some common problems arise, due to the distance of the production sites to the processing plant and to the very low density of the material to be transported (0,1-0,3 t/m~3). These facts generate sustainability issues related to the needed minimization of costs and the evaluation of the feasibility of the supply chain, in interaction with the yielding possibilities of the areas. Defining optimal production areas within a region is often complicated by aspect related to transport costs, land productivity and its distribution, climate and soil variability. To improve the managing and planning of crop areas, the use of GIS has an important role, particularly when used in connection with simulation models and optimization algorithms. This stress the need to settle appropriate tools for this aim, able to be used in a GIS software framework.