Risk Management Case Study Assignment Sample

Introduction

Combined heat and power (CHP) power is considered to be an innovative approach of generation heat and electricity simultaneously. It is considered to be an efficient method of reducing heat waste, which occurs during the production of energy(Almeida, Fávaro & Quirino, 2012). This research paper presents the analysis of the use of CHP system with glycerol as the source fuel at the University as part their sustainability program. The University intends to reduce its carbon emissions and therefore, have developed their carbon management plan.  The use of CHP and glycerol has been suggested because CHP systems are efficient and produce low emissions as compared to traditional energy producing systems (Almeida, Fávaro & Quirino, 2012, Ambulkar, S., Blackhurst, J. and Grawe, S., 2015). The goal of this research paper is to analyse the sustainable biofuel supply chains with the use CHP systems for the given organization, in the lights of broad and diverse academic resources. It will analyse the risks associated with the implementation of glycerol based CHP plant and will propose strategies to overcome it. It will analyse the availability of the fuel, its cost, security and the reliability of the supply in the lights of broad and diverse academic resources.

Case Overview

            The existing case is related to the University, which intends to incorporate and implement sustainability principles and reduce the impact on the environment caused by its activities. Consequently, the Higher Education Carbon Management (HECM) Programme has been adopted by the university to determine the carbon emission baselines and to develop the Carbon Management Plan. To produce the Carbon Management Plan, the University has collaborated with the Carbon Trust with the aim to reduce 30% of the carbon emissions produced by its activities by 2015.  To achieve these objectives, it has focused on adopting CHP engine as a part of the Carbon Management Plant at Kent campus.  The adoption of CHP engine has been utilized by the university to create its own energy as a way of controlling carbon emissions. With the changes and modifications in its design and facilities, the institute intends to reduce carbon and minimize the amount of energy according to the needs and requirements of its students, faculty members and stakeholders. To achieve this purpose, it focuses on using glycerol as the main fuel for CHP engines.

Glycerol Based CHP Systems Supply Chain Network

Glycerol based CHP systems are the systems that use glycerol as the fuel for producing electricity and using heat in order to reduce carbon emissions significantly (Almeida, Fávaro & Quirino, 2012). Glycerol is considered to be colourless, non-toxic and odourless liquid, which is readily soluble in water (Ambulkar, S., Blackhurst, J. and Grawe, S., 2015).  It is considered to the by-product that is produced during the production of biodiesel. The possibility of using glycerol as the energy efficient fuel has been studied in literature extensively.  The need for alternate fuels is needed since the reserves and sources of fossil fuels are inadequate. Research suggests that crude glycerol is mainly produced when fat and vegetable oil are reacted together during the production of biodiesel (Ambulkar, S., Blackhurst, J. and Grawe, S., 2015, Azadeh & Arani, 2016, Barbieri, Melino & Morini, 2012). The main contaminants found in crude glycerol are methanol, water, soaps and salts.  The level of contaminants found in crude glycerol is highly fluctuating because of the nature of the industry.  The supply chain network of this structure starting from the material supply to the end user is discussed as follows:

1. Material Supply: The product that is used to produce glycerol are based on oil seeds, which are grown on farms. After the initial harvest, these oil seeds are moved to the facilities, where they are dried (Monczka et.al., 2015). After drying, they are stored and sent to the oil mill to extract oil. After the extraction of the oil, they are either used cooking oils or moved to the biodiesel plants.
2. Biodiesel Production: Once the virgin vegetable oils are transferred to the biodiesel plants, they are subjected to the pre-processing in order to refine them and to remove impurities from them (Mago & Smith, 2012). To achieve this, they are placed in the transesterfication plant. It should be noted that waste cooking oils and animal fats are also used in the production of biodiesel.  The oils and fats are then reacted with alcohol in order to produce biodiesel and by-products such as crude glycerol, water, soap and alcohol.  Since glycerol has a higher density than biodiesel, it can be separated from the bio-diesel efficiently (Li et.al, 2015). The remaining alcohol is then refined and reused through the process of distillation.  The crude glycerol produce contains water, methanol/alcohol and salts.
3. Glycerol Production and Refinery: This supply chain management network is still in development phase. The crude glycerol produced during the production of the biodiesel is subjected to refining, which is considered to be an expensive and difficult process. From the refineries, glycerol is transported to storage facilities. From storage facilities, they are sent to retail outlets, which are responsible for selling glycerol to the buyers for CHP plants. In United Kingdom, United States and other developing countries, glycerol quality standards have not been defined and are therefore, supplied to the buyers, as fuels for CHP plants.  The analysis of literature suggests that the construction of bio-refineries is expensive and therefore, requires significant amount of investment (Knizley & Mago, 2013, Kelloway et.al, 2013). Currently, refineries that operate that to refine glycerol and other biomass fuels in the United States, United Kingdom and other developing countries are owned by regional companies.  Consequently, the finally electricity produced from glycerol based CHP plant is supplied to the end users. In this case, the end users would be the students, faculty members, administrative employees and other workers.