GREEN HYDROGEN, INDUSTRIAL SYMBIOSIS, AND BLOCKCHAIN: ENHANCING SUSTAINABILITY AND RESILIENCE IN SUPPLY CHAINS

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to present two types of optimization models for simultaneously increasing sustainability and resilience in industrial supply chains. Sustainability increases when the chain as a whole reduces its carbon footprint. Resilience increases when increasing the supply chain's ability to recover from disruptive events. In principle, the objectives are antagonistic. Some sustainability approaches advocate that efficiency should increase, reducing supply alternatives and, consequently, the chain's resilience. This article proposes to combine two supply strategies, green hydrogen and industrial symbiosis, and a management strategy, blockchain, which can simultaneously increase sustainability and resilience. Adding sources such as green hydrogen and reusing material and energy waste generated by members of the same or another supply chain reduce the carbon footprint (by replacing fossil fuels and virgin raw materials). It also reinforces the supply chain, adding redundant edges. The article discusses the requirements of two models to optimize the implementation, one based on mixed integer linear programming and the other based on agent-based simulation. A cloud information system based on blockchain technology ensures data reliability.