Supply Chain Management for Bioenergy and Bioresources: Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice

Over the past few decades, energy demand around the globe has exponentially increased. This is triggered both by the rapid growth of industrial activity at the international level and the constantly increasing needs of the global population. The level of exploitation of traditional sources of energy, such as oil and coal, has reached a critical level, with the implications for the environment being colossal and predictions of the planet’s future being jeopardized. As a response to this, in the modern world, efforts have shifted to the exploitation of renewable energy resources, with bioenergy and/or bioresources being relatively promising alternatives [1]. This paradigm shift has brought about a new area of the economy, namely, the bioeconomy, a multi-disciplinary field that covers several sectors and systems (including forestry, agriculture, fisheries, food processing, and bio-based products, among others), which depend on biological resources [2,3]. In short, the bioeconomy aims at the exploitation of biomass and—more importantly—biowaste for the purpose of renewable energy production [4]. The potential of achieving the renewable energy targets at the international level is significant and represents a key initiative toward boosting growth, especially in rural areas. To this end, the above-mentioned alternatives are promising, and thorough investigation of all bioeconomy angles and parameters is thus necessary.

However, the competitiveness of activities related to bioenergy and/or bioresources heavily depends on the effectiveness of supply chain management (i.e., biomass production in a single or multiple locations, pre-treatment in one or more phases/stages, storage in a single or more places, transfer using one or alternative media, and conversion of bioresources to bioenergy) [5]. Within this chain, many multi-disciplinary topics are involved in respect to the bioresources and bioenergy production. Although the technical issues that are related to the topic are well discussed in the literature and do not seem to constitute major barriers to the establishment of bioenergy as a key alternative to energy productions from fossil fuels [6], supply chain management issues, such as design of the network and collection, storage, and transportation of bioresources, are still deemed fundamental questions that need to be considered in respect to optimal exploitation of bioenergy and bioresources. More specifically, key questions that need to be answered refer to the types of bioresources that could be profitably utilized, the decisions (at the strategic, tactical, and/or operational level) that are required for the development of a robust biomass supply chain network, and the policies/initiatives that need to be endorsed locally and regionally for the promotion and exploitation of bioenergy and bioresources [7,8]. Of course, all the aforementioned questions need to be viewed by also taking into consideration the specific areas’ characteristics [9]. The latter further complicates relevant decision making.

Moreover, the modelling of material and energy flows; identification of the dynamic character of the supply chains, available reverse logistics and waste management alternatives; the economic, social, and environmental sustainability of bioresource supply chains; sustainable balance of land use for food production; novelty in the applied business models; and decision support frameworks for efficient supply chain management for bioenergy and bioresources present critical operational sustainability issues and business-making potential [10,11]. Overall, win–win collaborations are required among different stakeholders within different echelons of the supply chain in order for bioenergy to become dominant.

Sustainability in bioeconomy is an undeniably difficult problem, and finding a global optimum is often challenging, as several economic, environmental, and social aspects should be analyzed, preferably in a balanced way. Managerial decisions taken without considering impacts (economic, environmental, or social) on other chains of the supply always lead to local—not global—optimums and only myopically provide non-sustainable solutions for the players involved [10,12]. All of the bioeconomy-related thematic fields are highly complex, and most of the discussed topics require multi-disciplinary and rational (out-of-the-box) approaches. There are numerous issues that need to be investigated. Biomass harvesting time [13], biomass moisture and loss of dry material [14], seasonality, dependance on weather/microclimatic conditions as well as the impact on these conditions [15], distance from bioresources’ source to energy recovery facilities [16], cultivation energy requirements [17], operational practices and machinery performance [18,19], and market maturity [20] are only a few examples of unpredictable parameters in the case of bioresources that transform the relatively easy-to-handle task of supply chain management into a difficult problem.

In this context, this Special Issue entitled “Supply Chain Management for Bioenergy and Bioresources” aims to present innovative approaches and pioneering solutions to efficient supply chain management for bioenergy and bioresources. The Special Issue includes one extensive review on yellow and woody biomass supply chain management, together with six original papers that span several innovative, multifaceted, technical developments that are related to different echelons of supply chain management for bioenergy and bioresources. More specifically, Rodias et al., in their paper entitled “Green, Yellow, and Woody Biomass Supply-Chain Management: A Review”, present a comprehensive review of research studies with the aim of advancing biomass supply chain management in relation to three types of biomass sources, namely, green biomass sources (such as perennial grasses), yellow biomass sources (such as crop residues), and woody biomass sources (such as willow) [21]. From their review, it becomes evident that the presented up-to-date trends in biomass supply chain management and the potential for future advanced approach applications play a crucial role in business and sustainability efficiency of the biomass supply chain.

The Special Issue is also enriched by six manuscripts, which are introduced below. In their paper entitled “Energy Footprint of Mechanized Agricultural Operations”, Lampridi et al. present a modelling methodology for the precise calculation of the energy cost of performing an agricultural operation, with their model incorporating operational management into the calculation while simultaneously considering the commercially available machinery (implements and tractors) [22]. Vlachokostas et al., in their paper entitled “Decision Support System to Implement Units of Alternative Biowaste Treatment for Producing Bioenergy and Boosting Local Bioeconomy”, propose a generic methodological scheme based on multicriteria analysis for the development of small-, medium-, and large-scale units of alternative biowaste treatment, with an emphasis on the production of bioenergy and other bioproducts, taking into account environmental, economic, and social criteria to support robust decision making [23]. The study conducted by Papageorgiou et al. is entitled “Forecasting of Day-Ahead Natural Gas Consumption Demand in Greece Using Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System”. In this work, the authors examine the application of neuro-fuzzy models so as to develop a real accurate natural gas (NG) prediction model for Greece, thus providing a fast and efficient tool for completely accurate predictions of future short-term natural gas demand [24]. Vamvanoulas et al., in the paper entitled “Dry Above Ground Biomass for a Soybean Crop Using an Empirical Model in Greece” propose a new empirical equation for the estimation of daily dry above-ground biomass for a hybrid of soybean, which presents a useful tool for estimations without using destructive sampling [25]. In their study entitled “Decision-Making Process for Photovoltaic Solar Energy Sector Development using Fuzzy Cognitive Map Technique”, Papageorgiou et al. focus on the investigation of certain factors and their influence on the development of Brazilian photovoltaic solar energy with the help of fuzzy cognitive maps, an established methodology for scenario analysis and management in diverse domains, inheriting the advancements of fuzzy logic and neural networks [26]. Lastly, Wu et al. in their paper entitled “A Cloud-Based In-Field Fleet Coordination System for Multiple Operations” analyze the structure and composition of an auto-steering-based collaborative operating system for fleet management, which is developed to realize an in-field flow-shop working mode and is often adopted by scaled agricultural machinery cooperatives [27].

In conclusion, this Special Issue seeks to contribute to the agenda of bioenergy and bioresources through enhanced scientific and multi-disciplinary knowledge in order to boost the performance efficiency of supply chain management and support decision-making process of all different types of involved stakeholders. We are confident that the materials included in the present Special Issue provide interesting case studies that may motivate researchers and encourage additional efforts in efficient supply chain management for bioenergy and bioresources, bridging the gap between theory and practice.