(204j) Optimization of the Supply Chain Associated to the Production of Bioethanol From Residues of Agave in Mexico

In Mexico, one of the most important industries is the Tequila production; where the agave plant is used as source of fermentable sugars. During the processing of Agave to yield Tequila, several lignocellulosic residues from the Agave are produced; these residues correspond to the stalks that are obtained in the cultivation areas because these are not used in for the Tequila process, and also there are several lignocellulosic residues obtained in the factories associated to the Tequila processing from the pineapples after the fermentation process. Note that the Agave is mainly cultivated in the central-west part of Mexico (in the states of Jalisco, Guanajuato and Michoacán), and most of the factories associated to the Tequila are located also in this region. Furthermore, the residues that are distributed in this region represent a considerable pollution problem, and currently these are not used. However, these lignocellulosic residues can be used as raw material to produce several products, including bioethanol. In addition, the demand for the bioethanol is distributed though the nearby cities. Nowadays, satisfying the fuels requirements is a serious problem, due to the reduction of oil reserves around the world and the associated greenhouse gas emissions. Biofuels are expected to be able to attack the negative environmental impact for energy use, these biofuels are produced from biomass and organic wastes with high carbohydrate content, bioethanol is biofuels that can be used as substitution of gasoline. Therefore, to promote the sustainable use of this residue as raw material for the bioethanol production there is required to develop a systematic approach, which must consider the optimization for the entire supply chain accounting for several objectives. These objectives should include economic, environmental and social issues to promote sustainability (Santibañez-Aguilar et al., 2011). Therefore, in this work is proposed a mathematical programming model for the sustainable optimization for the supply chain management associated to the bioethanol production from the residues of the Agave from the Tequila production in Mexico. The optimization method is based on the superstructure shown in Figure 1; whereas the bioethanol production process is based on the flowsheet shown in Figure 2.