Mapping out the regional low-carbon and economic biomass supply chain by aligning geographic information systems and life cycle assessment models

The development of biomass faces challenges due to its low energy density and wide dispersion, particularly in the case of agricultural straw, resulting in high supply chain costs. To address these challenges, a comprehensive approach that combines spatial planning with techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) was employed to establish an economically sustainable and low-carbon biomass supply chain (BSC) system. The approach encompassed the integration of straw resource and road network data into a Geographic Information System (GIS), which was subsequently utilized to devise TEA and LCA calculation methods leveraging the GIS data. Scenario analysis was performed by adjusting the service radius of the pretreatment center to identify the optimal location of the bioenergy plant, minimize the BSC cost, and reduce the carbon footprint. The results indicated that implementing a service radius of 3–4 km achieved an optimized BSC scenario in the study area, resulting in BSC costs of 375 CNY/t and carbon emissions of 125 kgCO2/t. Overall, this work offers a promising modeling framework for the efficient, economical, and sustainable utilization of bioenergy. •The spatial LCA method was established based on a geographic information system•Coupling spatial LCA and TEA build a low-carbon and economical biomass supply chain•Service radius analysis mapped out the optimal plant location and transport routes•The optimized scenario achieved a cost of 375 CNY/t and GWP of 125 kgCO2/t