ABSTRACT
Demand for energy, enough food, and a good environment is the most important concern in the entire world today. Then, the possibility of obtaining a renewable, available, safe, and effective source of energy is one of the challenges that humanity should address. The biofuels, particularly bioethanol, are an environmentally clean source of energy. However, production costs of fuel ethanol are higher than production costs of gasoline. Nevertheless, many groups and research centers in different countries are continuously carrying out studies aimed at reducing ethanol production costs for a protable industrial operation. Diverse research trends and process improvements could be successful when trying to lower ethanol costs. These research tendencies are related to the nature of utilized feedstocks (looking for the most productive and cheap raw materials), tools of process engineering (mainly process synthesis, integration, and optimization), food security, and environmental impacts.
