Printed in Great Britain ETHANOL FROM LIGNOCELLULOSIC BIOMASS: TECHNOLOGY, ECONOMICS, AND OPPORTUNITIES

Production of ethanol from agricultural and forestry residues, municipal solid waste, energy crops, and other forms of lignocellulosic biomass could improve energy security, reduce trade deficits, decrease urban air pollu-tion, and contribute little, if any, net carbon dioxide accumulation to the atmosphere. Dilute acid can open up the biomass tructure for subsequent processing. The simultaneous accharification and fermentation (SSF) process is favored for producing ethanol from the major fraction of lignocellulosic biomass, cellulose, because of its low cost potential. Technology has also been deve-loped for converting the second largest biomass fraction, hemicellulose, into ethanol • The remaining fraction, containing mostly lignin, can be burned as boiler fuel to power the conversion process and generate xtra elec-tricity to export. Developments in conversion technology have reduced the projected gate price of ethanol front about USSO.95fliter (USS3.60/gallon) in 1980 to only about USSO.32/liter (USS1.22/gallon) in 1994. Technical targets have been identified to bring the selling price down to about USSO.18/liter (USSO.67/gallon), a level that is competitive when oil prices exceed USS25/barrel. However, at current projected costs, ethanol from bio-mass could be competitive with ethanol from corn, par-ticularly if lower cost feedstocks or other niche markets are capitalized upon. Key words: Lignocellulosic biomass, ethanol produc-tion, oil supply, air pollution