A mathematical model for the composition of Brazilian ethanol shares for exportation to be blended to gasoline

In this paper, a Non Linear Programming (NLP) model is developed to establish the amount of ethanol produced in Brazilian distilleries to compose shares for exportation to be used as renewable automotive fuel, blended with gasoline. The model takes into account the minimization of the global annual cost of production, considering the specifications required by the importing countries. The ethanol properties are converted on a volumetric basis to achieve the blend properties. The global optimization solver Baron, available in GAMS, was used to solve the problem. A case study was considered to test the applicability of the model and results show the global optimum.