PRODUCING ETHANOL FROM SWITCHGRASS; A LITERATURE REVIEW ON A BUSINESS FEASIBILITY

Economically producing cellulosic ethanol from switchgrass is somewhat complicated for a few reasons. Cellulosic ethanol is more costly to produce than ethanol produced from starchy sources such as corn. Different types of cellulosic biomass require varying degrees of processing, making some types of cellulosic biomass cheaper to convert into ethanol than other types. Pretreating cellulosic biomass is a crucial step towards practical cellulosic ethanol production. Many forms of pretreatment present different benefits and drawbacks. The four main steps in the whole process are pretreatment, saccharification, fermentation, and distillation. Various parts of the process are in need of research and development. Feasible production of ethanol will have a positive impact on the sustainability of our community because ethanol is a clean-burning fuel, and can potentially be converted into more useful fuels such a butanol. Careful cost accounting and net energy gain analysis are needed to determine if producing ethanol from switchgrass is a feasible procedure. This paper provides a review of the literature on the feasibility of producing Ethanol from Switchgrass. Further, the study reveals a few factors that influence the determination of the production feasibility about the cost factor and other related factors discussed throughout the paper.