Cost performance optimization of waste heat recovery supply chain by mobile heat storage vehicles

Waste heat recovery (WHR) has been widely recognized as an effective and sustainable source of energy supply. However, conventional WHR requires a huge initial investment in equipment and infrastructures for recovered heat distribution. This study incorporates a newly emerged mobile WHR supply chain, which yields to significantly lower distribution cost and investigates the cost optimization of all participants of the supply chain. The proposed optimization model incorporates the life cycle assessment method for the complete phases of recycling, pretreatment, transportation, storage, and final utilization. After assessing the cost influencing factors of the supply chain with stochastic demands, the sensitivity analysis and case studies show that with the proposed optimizing model, the supply chain cannot only ensure the stable energy supply but also minimize the total transitional cost compared with the conventional WHR and fossil fuel heating.