ABSTRACT
An analysis of the current situation and perspective on biomass-to-ethanol is provided in this chapter. Various conversion pathways are compared from technical, economic, and environmental points of view. It is found that, due to a learning curve and other economic reasons, the United States and Brazil will maintain their comparative advantage in the next decades. However, the fast growth of the world fuel ethanol demand, as well as the perspectives of the oil market, may notably inuence the international market price of ethanol and open opportunities for wide-scale production in other regions such as Europe and Asia. In the long term, lignocelluloseto-ethanol is the most viable pathway from a sustainability point of view. However, its production cost must be reduced signicantly for this process to have a chance to drive forward the strategy of biomass-to-ethanol worldwide.
