Advanced bioethanol production

Abstract

Bioethanol was seen as a promising clean renewable biofuel, principally as a fuel additive which could improve engine performance and reduce air pollution, and was the first biofuel produced on a large scale. US production of ethanol from corn, a first-generation biofuel, reached 50.3 billion litres in 2010 and is projected to rise to 54.3 billion litres in 2011. Thus, the USA has become by far the world's leading bioethanol producer, far surpassing Brazil, which produced 25.3 billion litres from sugarcane in 2010, and is now importing ethanol from the USA.