GOALI: Design and Operations of Supply Chain for Cleaner Fuels: Models, Algorithms and Implementation for Coal-fired Power Plants

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The research objective of this award is to establish a comprehensive characterization of fuel supply chain systems in power plants, and to develop analytical models and efficient algorithms to support them to design and operate those chains with cleaner fuels. Fuel blending has been widely adopted among coal-fired plants to produce a blend satisfying heat and emission standards, which requires power plants to manage their complex fuel chains to ensure that the right fuel is available at the right time. Such a situation is more complicated when non-traditional biomass is included for co-firing. To resolve this pressing issue, this research will: (i) collect and analyze real data to identify critical and random factors; (ii) build comprehensive fuel supply chain models using stochastic programming and/or robust optimization methods; (iii) develop efficient algorithms to compute optimal/near-optimal solutions for practical instances; (iv) demonstrate the effectiveness of those models and algorithms on achieving an optimal balance among emission reduction, economic efficiency and reliability in power generation.If successful, this research will provide a set of substantial tools that will significantly improve the design and operation of coal-fired power plants and their fuel supply chains. The estimated savings nationwide could be multi-billion dollars annually. More broadly, these tools can be utilized in biomass integration, economic analysis of retrofit technologies, and contract negotiations. They are also applicable to other industries, such as chemical and food industries. Our research findings will be disseminated timely via conferences, journal publications and a dedicated internet page containing relevant tools, models, case studies, and tutorials/manuals. Undergraduate and graduate students will also benefit from this award through new course material and research involvement. The transformative impact will be generated through the close collaboration with industrial partners and student interns.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.