A Game-Theoretic Approach for Investigating the Amount of Land Assigned to Biomass Cultivation and Adopt the Degree of Technology by Biorefinery Considering Government Intervention: A Case Study of Iran

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a change of approach in the field of using renewable energy and transitioning from fossil energy. Among its reasons, we can mention climate changes and global warming, population growth and increasing demand for energy, the limitation of fossil resources and their price increase, and issues such as energy security. Renewable energy has different types such as solar energy, biofuel energy, wind energy, geothermal energy, etc. Reports show that most of the pollution is related to the transportation sector. Since bioenergy can be used for heat, electricity, and fuel purposes, some countries use it as an alternative or hybrid fuel. Using biofuels has economic, social, and environmental advantages and helps sustainable development. In the current research, the interaction between the farmer, the biorefinery, and the government has been investigated under six scenarios. The farmer determines the amount of land allocated to second-generation biomass cultivation. Biorefinery specifies the technology level and process of biofuel production. Since biofuel production processes are regularly being investigated in laboratories and have a growing trend, The concept of technology level is also considered to examine different states of low-level technology to high-level technology. In some scenarios, the government adopts a policy of indifference, and in some scenarios an active support policy by providing subsidies. At the end, a numerical example is presented numerical sensitivity analysis is performed, and management results are expressed. The results show that the input rate of biomass to the biorefinery is effective in adopting the technology level. Also, the highest price of biomass exists in the case where the farmer decides to develop the land with a non-linear cost because the costs increase.