NREL, 2008
Biochemical production of ethanol from corn stover: 2007 State of Technology model
In 2002, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) published a detailed report documenting a process design and economic analysis for the biochemical conversion of lignocellulosic biomass (corn stover) to ethanol. The design makes use of dilute acid pretreatment followed by enzymatic saccharification and cofermentation with recombinant Zymomonas mobilis. This design is not optimized; rather, it represents one technology package. Although experimentally verified data are contained in the report, it serves a more important function — to set the technological targets necessary for attaining U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) cost goals. Since 2001, NREL has kept track of technical research progress in the biochemical process through what are known as "State of Technology" (SOT) assessments. The purpose of this report is to update the FY 2005 SOT model with the latest research results from the past two years.
