Environmentally conscious supply chain design and capacity planning: From first to second generation biofuel systems.

Supply Chain optimisation tools may help managing the oncoming transition from first to second generation bioethanol productions. A multi-objective Mixed Integer Linear Programming is developed to design bioethanol supply chains where both corn grain and stover are considered as suitable biomass. Environmental and financial performance are simultaneously taken as design drivers and alternative process design options are considered, too. Northern Italy is taken as geographical benchmark to assess a real-world case study. Results show how the design transition from first to second generation bioethanol systems substantially depends on the specific trade-off between environmental and financial objectives.