Involving economic incentives in optimizing the methanol supply chain considering conventional and unconventional resources

Recent discoveries of substantial reserves of natural/shale gas have spurred growth in the production of methanol from natural gas. Such growth must entail the development of reliable infrastructures and supply chains. This paper presents a mathematical programming model for the strategic planning of the methanol supply chains to satisfy regional demands. To encourage utilization of local resources, economic incentives are considered. The uncertainties associated with the unit sale cost, supply of natural gas, and demand of methanol are incorporated. Several sustainability objectives are included such as minimizing fresh water consumption, minimizing CO2 emissions, and maximizing profit. To illustrate the applicability of the devised methodology, a case study from Mexico was solved with two schemes: Scheme A does not consider the uncertainty or economic incentives and Scheme B considers uncertainty, economic incentives and restrictions on the importation of methanol. The results show that by encouraging the national production of new methanol plants, the incentives generated are up to 113% better than if the importation and production of the only existing plant in Mexico are used.