Canada recently implemented a federal mandate of 2% of renewable content in diesel fuel and heating oil. Federal-level biofuel strategy is currently more geared to bioethanol, as nonfood oils continue to be more cost-competitive and canola seeded area is forecast to increase 10% as a new record due to strong prices and high expected yields. Increasing focus is therefore being placed on alternative oilseeds as nonfood crops for biodiesel and their ability to adapt to the semiarid conditions of the Canadian Prairies and provide benefits in nutrient and water-use efficiency when introduced into the crop rotation. Systems engineering and supply-chain modeling and optimization will have an increasingly important role in decision making for designating supply units, the linkage of processes and chains, and biorefinery system design. However, current models require further enhancement to address current challenging questions: (1) changing spatial considerations (e.g., land use and suitability for feedstocks), (2) changing temporal dynamics of supply and risk of climate extreme impacts on transportation networks (road, rail, pipeline), price volatility, changes in policy targets and subsidy regimes, process technological change, and multigenerational biorefinery systems engineering advancements. Greater integration internationally in model development and testing would improve sensitivity and reliability in their system-level predictions and forecasts. 1. Introduction Biofuel is fuel that is derived from biomass or living organisms and/or their metabolic byproducts. It is termed renewable (unlike fossil fuel (petroleum, coal) and nuclear energy sources) because it produces electrical, thermal, and/or mechanical energy at rates that are faster than the rate at which its resource base is consumed. Canada’s annual primary energy supply is roughly 11 exajoules of which roughly 17% is renewable (i.e., 11% from hydroelectricity and 6% from biomass) [1]. Nonetheless, renewable bioenergy supplied from agricultural reigons and forest wastes (with contributions from industrial, municipal solid waste, and sewage biogas), energy crops, wind, and solar sources continues to increase. Currently, the pulp and paper and forest-product industries recycle half of their total energy use by converting bioenergy into electricity, steam, and heat, while fuelwood and gas from landfills are used in heating residential spaces. Bioenergy is currently transformed into biofuel for generating power as urban and rural electricity, heating water and spaces, and transportation. Biofuel
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