Marketing Risk Management of Palm Oil Based Biodiesel Agroindustry

Biodiesel is fuel generates from vegetable oils that have properties similar to diesel oil. The advantages of biodiesel compared to diesel is an environmentally friendly fuel because it produces much lower emissions (sulfur free, low smoke number) in accordance with global issues, higher cetane number (> 57) so that the combustion efficiency is better than diesel, lubrication properties of the piston engine; biodegradable, a renewable energy because it is made from natural materials, and improve the independence of fuel supply because it can be produced locally. The purpose of this research is to design the risk management decision support system for agro-industry development biodiesel of oil palm-based. Determination of objectives and risk management strategies using the used to obtain an alternative value in the aspect of marketing. This research resulted in a decision support system that is useful to help decision makers in addressing the risk of agro-bio-diesel. Risk management model is designed in a decision support system  (DSS), can be used by industrial users and investors in the field of biodiesel. DSS software development using Microsoft Visual Basic Version 6.0 consists of three main components namely database management system, knowledge base management system and model base management system. Model base management system consists of risk marketing analysis

Presidential address: Optimization in underground mine planning-developments and opportunities.

Presidential address presented at the The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Annual General Meeting on 11 August 2016.The application of mining-specific and generic optimization techniques in the mining industry is deeply rooted in the discipline of operations research (OR). OR has its origins in the British Royal Air Force and Army around the early 1930s. Its development continued during and after World War II. The application of OR techniques to optimization in the mining industry started to emerge in the early 1960s. Since then, optimization techniques have been applied to solve widely different mine planning problems. Mine planning plays an important role in the mine value chain as operations are measured against planned targets in order to evaluate operational performance. An optimized mine plan is expected to be sufficiently robust to ensure that actual outcomes are close or equal to planned targets, provided that variances due to poor performance are minimal. Despite the proliferation of optimization techniques in mine planning, optimization in underground mine planning is less extensively developed and applied than in open pit mine planning. This is due to the fact that optimization in underground mine planning is far more complex than open pit optimization. Optimization in underground mine planning has been executed in four broad areas, namely: development layouts, stope envelopes, production scheduling, and equipment selection and utilization. This paper highlights commonly applied optimization techniques, explores developments and opportunities, and makes a case for integrated three-dimensional (3D) stochastic optimization, in underground mine planning.MvdH201

Evaluating Pillar Industry's Transformation Capability: A Case Study of Two Chinese Steel-Based Cities.

Many steel-based cities in China were established between the 1950s and 1960s. After more than half a century of development and boom, these cities are starting to decline and industrial transformation is urgently needed. This paper focuses on evaluating the transformation capability of resource-based cities building an evaluation model. Using Text Mining and the Document Explorer technique as a way of extracting text features, the 200 most frequently used words are derived from 100 publications related to steel- and other resource-based cities. The Expert Evaluation Method (EEM) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) techniques are then applied to select 53 indicators, determine their weights and establish an index system for evaluating the transformation capability of the pillar industry of China's steel-based cities. Using real data and expert reviews, the improved Fuzzy Relation Matrix (FRM) method is applied to two case studies in China, namely Panzhihua and Daye, and the evaluation model is developed using Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation (FCE). The cities' abilities to carry out industrial transformation are evaluated with concerns expressed for the case of Daye. The findings have policy implications for the potential and required industrial transformation in the two selected cities and other resource-based towns

Determination of Environmental Factors for the Implementation of the Exploitability Index in Industrial Aggregate Mining Using Multi-Criteria Analysis

ABSTRACT: The quality of human life is linked to the exploitation of mining resources. The Exploitability Index (EI) assesses the actual possibilities to enable a mine according to several factors. The environment is one of the most constraining ones, but its analysis is made in a shallow way. This research is focused on its determination, according to a new preliminary methodology that sets the main components of the environmental impact related to the development of an exploitation of industrial minerals and its weighting according to the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). It is applied to the case of the ophitic outcrops in Cantabria (Spain). Twelve components are proposed and weighted with the AHP and an algorithm that allows for assigning a normalized value for the environmental factor to each deposit. Geographic Information Systems (GISs) are applied, allowing us to map a large number of components of the environmental factors. This provides a much more accurate estimation of the environmental factor, with respect to reality, and improves the traditional methodology in a substantial way. It can be established as a methodology for mining spaces planning, but it is suitable for other contexts, and it raises developing the environmental analysis before selecting the outcrop to be exploite

Environmental and social impact assessment of optimized post-tensioned concrete road bridges

[EN] Most of the definitions of sustainability include three basic pillars: economic, environmental, and social. The economic pillar has always been evaluated but not necessarily in the sense of economic sustainability. On the other hand, the environmental pillar is increasingly being considered, while the social pillar is weakly developed. Focusing on the environmental and social pillars, the use of methodologies to allow a wide assessment of these pillars and the integration of the assessment in a few understandable indicators is crucial. This article is structured into two parts. In the first part, a review of life cycle impact assessment methods, which allow a comprehensive assessment of the environmental and social pillars, is carried out. In the second part, a complete environmental and social sustainability assessment is made using the ecoinvent database and ReCiPe method, for the environmental pillar, and SOCA database and simple Social Impact Weighting method, for the social pillar. This methodology was used to compare three optimized bridges: two box-section post-tensioned concrete road bridges with a variety of initial and maintenance characteristics, and a pre-stressed concrete precast bridge. The results show that there is a high interrelation between the environmental and social impact for each life cycle stage.This research was funded by the Ministerio de Economia, Ciencia y Competitividad and FEDER funding grant number [BIA2017-85098-R]Penades-Pla, V.; Martínez-Muñoz, D.; García-Segura, T.; Navarro, IJ.; Yepes, V. (2020). Environmental and social impact assessment of optimized post-tensioned concrete road bridges. Sustainability. 12(10):4265-01-4265-18. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12104265S4265-014265-18121

Study of Energy Resource Development Priorities in Siak Regency, Riau Province Indonesia

Preparation of Database and Geographical Information System Electrical System Siak, Siak set Including Electrical system into isolated zones in Riau Province. Siak actually has a potential energy resource that can be utilized and developed to meet the electrical energy needs of Siak. The amount of potential energy resources in Siak require priority in the use and development of energy resources will be so developed can be utilized Effectively, efficiently, and of course sustainable. The purpose of this study was to (1) identify potential energy resources are developed in Siak (2) Prepare the priority development of energy resources that can be developed by using Analytical Hierarchy Process Method (3) to formulate policy development of energy resources in Siak. The results of this research study is to (1) the energy resource that can be developed in Siak is palm oil, sunlight, soil, peat, petroleum, and natural gas (2) Based on the AHP the combined result of palm oil first priority then sunlight, peat, petroleum and natural gas. (3) Energy resource development policy must be environmentally sustainable Siak and to the increase of the role of community and cooperation with the business world with the rule of law

Evaluation of transport options from KMS shaft to the mill at Obuasi mine, Anglogold Ashanti

The underground mine at AngloGold Ashanti Obuasi Mine in Ghana currently transports about 175,000 tpm from four shafts to the mill. Two major shafts, Kwesi Mensah Shaft (KMS) and Kwesi Renner Shaft (KRS) handle about 85-90% of this total tonnage. Transfer of ore from all the shafts to the mill is largely by means of contractor trucks. The mill is approximately 2.8 km and 1.5 km by road from KMS and KRS shafts respectively. Earlier plans to introduce a surface conveyor to the mill were found not to be economically viable largely due to the lower production level prevailing at that time. The objectives at that time were to decrease cost, improve availability and security, and to limit the numerous problems associated with contractor trucking. The current Business Plan indicates a phased increase in the underground production from 175,000 tpm up to 220,000 tpm. The extra tonnage is to feed the new Tailings Sulphide Plant (TSP), located adjacent to the existing mill. With the plan to increase underground production, and the need to decrease cost and improve efficiency against the current financial downturn, this project serves to review the four ore transfer options that link the shafts to the mill. The options are the continued usage of contractor trucks, purchase mine-owned trucks, use surface or underground conveyors. The factors to be used in the selection process were categorised under economic, environmental and technical parameters. Secondly the options were multiple and consequently the appropriate selection method was the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). This is a Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methodology which is a widely used technique. The AHP is a very simple, structured and easily understandable method in which both non-numerical and numerical data are considered in the selection processes with multiple options, where the need for optimization is paramount. The overall observation by the experts’ favoured surface conveyors. However, the issue of capital in the present regime of the Obuasi mine, makes it quite difficult to obtain management approval in the immediate future. The surface conveyor however, has the potential to make adequate returns. From the financial analysis showing a six to ten year payback period in a mining environment, other forms of finance could be considered. Alternatively, the next highest ranking option, which is contractor trucking could be used but with two contractors. This would introduce competition which could improve cost and availability. This is the first time that a more structured approach has been used for equipment selection at Obuasi

Spatial multicriteria decision analysis for the siting of on-shore wind power in Kemiönsaari

Wind power is a low-carbon energy production form that reduces the dependence of society on fossil fuels. Finland has adopted wind energy production into its climate change mitigation policy, and that has lead to changes in legislation, guidelines, regional wind power areas allocation and establishing a feed-in tariff. Wind power production has indeed boosted in Finland after two decades of relatively slow growth, for instance from 2010 to 2011 wind energy production increased with 64 %, but there is still a long way to the national goal of 6 TWh by 2020. This thesis introduces a GIS-based decision-support methodology for the preliminary identification of suitable areas for wind energy production including estimation of their level of risk. The goal of this study was to define the least risky places for wind energy development within Kemiönsaari municipality in Southwest Finland. Spatial multicriteria decision analysis (SMCDA) has been used for searching suitable wind power areas along with many other location-allocation problems. SMCDA scrutinizes complex ill-structured decision problems in GIS environment using constraints and evaluation criteria, which are aggregated using weighted linear combination (WLC). Weights for the evaluation criteria were acquired using analytic hierarchy process (AHP) with nine expert interviews. Subsequently, feasible alternatives were ranked in order to provide a recommendation and finally, a sensitivity analysis was conducted for the determination of recommendation robustness. The first study aim was to scrutinize the suitability and necessity of existing data for this SMCDA study. Most of the available data sets were of sufficient resolution and quality. Input data necessity was evaluated qualitatively for each data set based on e.g. constraint coverage and attribute weights. Attribute quality was estimated mainly qualitatively by attribute comprehensiveness, operationality, measurability, completeness, decomposability, minimality and redundancy. The most significant quality issue was redundancy as interdependencies are not tolerated by WLC and AHP does not include measures to detect them. The third aim was to define the least risky areas for wind power development within the study area. The two highest ranking areas were Nordanå-Lövböle and Påvalsby followed by Helgeboda, Degerdal, Pungböle, Björkboda, and Östanå-Labböle. The fourth aim was to assess the recommendation reliability, and the top-ranking two areas proved robust whereas the other ones were more sensitive.Siirretty Doriast

Multi-Criteria Decision Making for Photovoltaic Alternatives: A Case Study in Hot Climate Country

Photovoltaic (PV) experiences significant growth and has installed in many locations worldwide over the past decades. However, selecting the best alternative of PV system remains a problem in developing countries which often involves both interest and multiple objectives and from stakeholders. This research aims to select ideal PV model in an isolated island in the eastern part of Indonesia. Multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) will provide an ideal solution that uses a systematic process of decision making. This research proposes an alternative concept of MCDM by taking into account best-worst method and VIKOR method. In general, the main purpose of the both methods are to obtain weights and rank alternatives with the advantages of less information required and produce a more consistent result compared to AHP method. The result shows the best alternative for PV installation, which offers the highest power and potentially developed not only for daily access to electricity but also to support economic activities such as tourism and aquaculture