Technology options, ethanol production

Gulati, M., et al. Assessment of Ethanol Production Options for Com Products, Bioresource Technology, 58, 253-264 (1996). 

When perfected, synthesis-gas-to-ethanol technology can be expected to have a large impact on fermentation ethanol markets. It is likely that thermochemical ethanol would then be manufactured at production costs in the same range as methanol from synthesis gas, which can be produced by gasification of virtually any fossil or biomass feedstock. Applying the advances that have been made for conversion of lignocellulosic feedstocks via enzymatically catalyzed options, it has been estimated that the production cost of fermentation ethanol... 

Some options seek to reduce the adverse environmental impacts of existing products and technologies, while some pohcy options seek to reduce possible disruptions to the economy (e.g., food supply and land-use issues). For example, there is a tendency to allocate higher acreage of farmland to produce com ethanol with rising dependence on biofuels. 

---