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Abstract: To explore the potential for economical ethanol production from rice straw in Vietnam, this study estimated the rice straw density that is available for ethanol production, delivery cost of the rice straw, and determined the optimal facility size for different regions. The amount of rice straw annually generated is nearly 50dryMtyear−1. The rice straw available for ethanol production in regions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 was estimated to be 69, 6.8, 14, 3.9, 12, and 108drytkm−2, respectively. The delivery cost of rice straw varied from 20.5 to 65.4$ dry t−1, with a transportation distance of 0 to 120km. Regions 1 and 6 were estimated to be optimal locations for ethanol production, with optimally-sized facilities of 112.5 and 195MLyear−1, respectively. The feedstock supply radius was 50 and 48km for regions 1 and 6, respectively, with a total cost of feedstock and fixed cost of ethanol of 0.244$L−1 and 0.224$L−1, respectively. These results represented for the case study at present time. Naturally, the optimal plant size is sensitive to the changes of various conditions. Thus, an equation for the calculation of the optimal feedstock supply radius was developed with the involvement of various factors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]