Integrated ethanol and gasoline supply chain planning under environmental constraints: A case study of Brazil

The petroleum infrastructure, hydrocarbon costs, and process and distribution networks influence integrated supply chains of mixed biofuels and petroleum derivatives (gasoline and diesel). Furthermore, the seasonality of biomass feedstock poses more complexities when optimizing such a combined bio-fossil-fuel industry. As such, a multi-period mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) planning model proposal addresses this supply chain mixed fuels, whereby strategic and tactical decisions under environmental constraints account for different process design in response to demand fluctuations along the long-term horizon. This work is applied in the bio-fossil-fuel market in Brazil by considering diverse plant configurations and different feedstock with their seasonality. Results yield an optimal facility location and plant configurations optimizing over time the evolution of installed capacities, capacity utilization, carbon credit and emissions profiles. The study involves ethanol streams to be added in the gasoline mix considering exclusive and flex sugarcane and corn-based processing plants.