GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES FINAL ORAL EXAMINATION

Transcription

1 GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES MCGILL UNIVERSITY FINAL ORAL EXAMINATION FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY OF MOHAMED LEILA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCE SCIENCES SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL OPTIMIZATION OF ADVANCED BIOFUEL SUPPLY CHAINS IN THE UNITED STATES: AN INTEGRATED PLATFORM March 10 th :00 AM Macdonald Stewart Building, Room MS2-084 McGill University, Macdonald Campus COMMITTEE: Dr. V. Adamchuk (Bioresource Engineering Department) (Pro-Dean) Dr. J. Whalen (Co-Supervisor) Dr. J. Bergthorson (Department of Mechanical Engineering) (Co-Supervisor) Dr. N. Uzea (Departmental Chair or deputy) Dr. M. Lefsrud (Bioresource Engineering Department) (Internal Examiner) Dr. A. Georghiou (Deshautels School of Management) (External Member Dr. Josephine Nalbantoglu, Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies Members of the Faculty and Graduate Students are invited to attend

2 ABSTRACT Biofuels are one of the promising energy alternatives to reduce fossil fuel consumption and combat climate change. Growing civilian and military interest in acquiring cost competitive biofuels have inspired research to develop models that optimize their supply chains. Such models are constrained by several factors, namely the time-consuming data collection and processing, the complexity of formulating a mathematical optimization model, the need to use proprietary solvers, and the requirement for computational resources. To overcome these hurdles, researchers proposed the development of integrated platforms that streamline the described activities and enhance the accessibility to the required algorithms and hardware. Hence, the objectives of this thesis were to 1) formulate deterministic and stochastic mathematical optimization models to optimize biofuel supply chains in a spatially and temporally explicit manner, and test their resilience under uncertainty, 2) design a web-based platform that integrates the proposed model with Application Program Interfaces and publicly available databases to construct user-defined case studies and solve optimization problems on third-party cloud servers, and 3) demonstrate the abilities of the platform using a set of case studies of military biofuel supply chains in the Pacific region of the United States. The integrated platform is called the Biofuel supply chain Geospatial and Temporal Optimizer (BioGeSTO). The first version of BioGeSTO included a deterministic, spatial and temporal explicit, Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) model that takes into account improvements in conversion yields due to technology learning and account for future oil prices. The model was applied to a case study in California between 2020 and 2040 to determine whether direct financial incentives, provided to conversion facilities, expedited the development of the military biofuel supply chain for three oil price scenarios. It was concluded that direct financial incentives will have little or no effect on the development of the supply chain. The second version of BioGeSTO expanded the platform to include a stochastic MILP and was used to evaluate the impact of uncertainty pertaining to the availability and cost of biomass, and oil prices on the same supply chain. Given these uncertainties, the supply chain had approximately 65% chance of emerging. It was also revealed that a Hydrotreatment of Esters and Fatty Acids (HEFA) facility introduced between 2020 and 2027, and powered by camelina oil grown in rotation with wheat in central California, could be a reliable and financially feasible option for military biofuels supply in the state. The final version of BioGeSTO, which

3 included an interactive web interface, was used to determine the effect of introducing carbon pricing on the military biofuel supply chain in the Pacific states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Introducing carbon pricing improved the net present value and total cumulative production of the military biofuel supply chain for the examined oil price scenarios. Overall, BioGeSTO, an integrated platform for modelling and optimizing biofuel supply chain, is a suitable tool for researchers and decision makers to streamline the development of their case studies. It can be used to test the impact of introducing new policy schemes, technologies, or uncertainties on the design and performance of civilian and military biofuel supply chains. In future research projects, BioGeSTO can be expanded to include tactical and operational decisions (shorter time scales), and user defined heuristics to accelerate the solution times of optimization problems.

4 CURRICULUM VITAE UNIVERSITY EDUCATION PhD, Renewable Resources Natural Resources Sciences, McGill University, Canada Thesis Title: Spatial and Temporal Optimization of Advanced Biofuel Supply Chains in the United States. MSc, Environmental Monitoring, Modelling, and Management King s College London, UK Thesis Title: Barriers to Solar Energy Adoption in Egypt BSc, Physics The American University in Cairo, Egypt Sep 2013 Present Sep 2010 Sep 2011 Jan 2006 June 2010 EMPLOYMENT Operations Research Scientist LeanSystems Assistant Project Manager Canadian Biojet Supply Chain Initiative Teaching Assistant McGill University Intern United Nations Industrial Development Organization Mar 2017 Present Mar 2016 Mar 2017 Sep-Dec 2015, Feb-May 2015, Feb-May 2014 Sep-Nov 2012 AWARDS Graduate Excellence Award BFN Travel Award Graduate Mobility Award (GREAT) Academic Achievement Award 2013,2014,2015 McGill University 2013,2014,2015 McGill University 2013,2015 McGill University 2007-American University in Cairo

5 PUBLICATIONS Leila, M., Whalen, J. K., & Bergthorson, J. (2017) Strategic Spatial and Temporal Design of Renewable Diesel and Biojet Fuel Supply Chains: Case Study of California, USA. Submitted to Applied Energy. Leila, M., Whalen, J. and Bergthorson, J. Emerging Supply Chains of Alternative Jet Fuels in the United States. Conference Proceeding of World Bioenergy 2014, Jonkoping, Sweden. Gul, S., Winans, K., Leila, M., & Whalen, J. (2014). Sustaining soil carbon reserves of bioenergy cropping systems in northern temperate regions. CAB Reviews.